


In the Eye of the Needle

by mystyrust



Category: Danny Phantom, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Action, Adventure, Canon Divergence, Crossover, Danny trains at UA, Lost in another world, More tags added as work is updated, Mystery, Possible Spoilers for MHA season 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2019-07-05 17:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15868554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystyrust/pseuds/mystyrust
Summary: “What do we even label this as on our map of the Ghost Zone? Swirly passage #5 with a hint of doors?”In which Danny travels to a parallel dimension and gets trapped in a very Quirky world. But maybe he's exactly where he needs to be. Takes place well into season 3 of MHA and early season 1 of DP (Spoiler tag added)





	1. Chapter 1

“What do we even label this as on our map of the Ghost Zone? Swirly passage #5 with a hint of doors?”

Danny Fenton and his friends, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, were exploring and mapping the ghost zone. It had been a couple months since Danny turned into a half ghost because of a lab accident in his parents’ lab – which also turned on the ghost portal and allowed ghosts to come out and haunt Amity Park. Now, the three 14 year olds were mapping the ghost zone, trying to see what they can learn about the creatures that terrorize their home town – except, they were lost. The repetitive landscape of the parallel dimension made it difficult to name locations uniquely.

“How about, the Hall of Infinite Realms?” Sam said, lowering her binoculars. Sam and Tucker were sitting inside the Fenton Spector Speeder, a mobile vehicle that Danny’s parents invented to help catch ghosts. Sam and Tucker, the teens without ectoplasm in their D.N.A. used it to safely traverse the Ghost Zone.   

“I like it, sounds mysterious”, Tucker responded, “But what makes you think these doors lead anywhere? They could’ve just been real world objects that floated into the Ghost Zone somehow”. It seemed like gravity didn’t exist in the Ghost Zone – everything floated aimlessly, yet the doors seemed to be arranged in a linear fashion, almost as if they were in a hallway. Each door was different from the next, ornate designs hinting at where it could have come from.

Sam pointed towards a far off stone altar floating near the closest door. “Someone else named this place.”

“Where are they now?” Danny thought aloud. “If this is their lair, they might be back soon.” Danny had the feeling they shouldn’t be here.

“Maybe it’s unoccupied?” Sam suggested. She really wanted to stay and see the place. She wanted to find out why this place was a ‘Hall’ when there was hardly a floor or ceiling. She wanted to see why doors were gathering around a single place in the Ghost Zone. Maybe the doors were doorways, to other places. “Ghosts lairs are usually littered with their possessions, and signs of earthly attachments.”

Sam was right. There were no signs of hoarding. No...Earthly objects, save the doors. “Alright, fine,” Danny conceded. “But we can’t stay here too long, I still have some homework to finish for Lancer.” Not that he was afraid, or anything. He wasn’t 100% confident in his ability to protect himself, or his friends, from ghosts - he was more confident in the specter speeder’s ability to take his friends to safety. But he was afraid to come alone, too - the last time he came alone, Walker gave him an impossibly long life sentence in prison. 

Danny flew towards the stone altar Sam had pointed towards, and read it aloud: “The Hall of Infinite Realms. Doorways to places known and otherwise. Ripples in Space Time will iron out fine, but stray threads may find themselves weaved in or pulled out.” Was it a prophecy, or a warning? Shouldn’t prophetic disclaimers rhyme or something?

“Guess they failed Lancer’s poetry homework – which I don’t plan on starting soon” 

Danny looked behind the doors. Nothing. Nothing behind them, Nothing above or below them. He opened the first door on his right. He expected an empty frame, and to see the swirling ectoplasm that was so common in the Ghost Zone. Instead, Danny could see animals living in a savannah-esque climate; very different from the climate in Amity Park. 

Sam asked what everyone was thinking. “Is that door...a Portal?”

“I wonder where that is,” Tucker thought. Danny had an idea.

“Hey Tucker, Sam! Do any of you guys have 4G on your phones? I want to see where this place is.” Danny asked.

“Are you kidding? Roaming charges are insane! Hold on Danny, maybe we can use one of your parents’ inventions and that can give us GPS coordinates without increasing anyone’s phone bill” Tucker responded. Tucker got up from his seat and rummaged the back of the Specter Speeder. Sure enough, the Fenton-Find-A-Ghost used standard GPS coordinates and minimally integrated with social media, so that you could “Post your Ghost!”. The GPS coordinates never worked inside the Ghost Zone though. Tucker grabbed a Fenton-Find-A-Ghost from the back of the Specter Speeder and handed it to Danny, who came inside.

“Post your Ghost on a fake Twitter handle and then come back! Then we can check the GPS” Tucker instructed. “I messed with it a little so it’ll only be able to post photos on Twitter. You won’t be able to post any tweets, but a picture is worth more than 140 characters,”

Danny nodded, taking the device and flying towards the door. The device looked like a gopro on a selfie stick - even if the device didn’t need a data plan to post on Twitter. Honestly, the Fenton-Find-A-Ghost might be a commercial success if it was a smartphone app with its own social media hashtag. Bad for business, but good for broke ghost hunters. Are they really ghost hunters if Danny himself is half ghost?

Danny flew down the portal into the Savannah land, making sure not to close the ghostly doorway that was floating in the sky behind him. He could see a lion resting on rock formations a few hundred feet away. In a quick motion, Danny took a few selfies, making sure the gorgeous view and lion were in the picture. He went into the camera’s picture gallery and selected one to ‘tweet’ - and just like that it was tweeted. No option to even caption or tag anyone. With the deed done, Danny turned around and returned to the Ghost Zone, closing the floating door portal behind him.

There were no roaming charges in the Ghost Zone – it just stayed connected Danny’s home Wi-Fi. Danny pulled out his phone and checked the latest tweet on his dummy account - just a photo. “Check out the GPS tag on the photo I just took guys!” Danny exclaimed to his friends, “Madagascar, Africa. So cool!”

Sam would’ve been excited to see animals in their natural habitat. Tucker would’ve been...a little excited? At the opportunities to hunt and eat meat. But Sam and Tucker were more shocked than surprised. It shouldn’t have surprised them that the Ghost Zone could teleport between real world locations like that - Vlad had a portal in his own mansion after all, and natural ghost portals occasionally opened all around Amity Park.

“Danny, the timestamp -” Sam interrupted, showing her own phone to him, “This photo was tweeted in 1937.”

“No way! The tweet wasn’t even there before!” Danny responded.

“I know! I kept refreshing your profile page” Sam responded. “It was definitely uploaded within the last 5 minutes, timestamped in the past”.

“So that’s probably what the tablet meant,” Tucker mused. “These doors let you travel through time and space! Guys, click the location tag and check out the detailed location coordinates. Are we really in ‘Dimension XJ9?’” Tucker noted. “And how did this thing even let you tweet from another dimension?! It doesn’t look like it has a data plan…”

“Do you have any idea what this means?!” Danny exclaimed. His face looked like he had a brilliantly stupid idea that could go incredibly wrong - or incredibly right, depending on Danny’s luck. “I can basically time travel, use the extra time to do homework in Africa, or another dimension or whatever, and then come back and have enough time to get a good night's’ rest! Or I can just nap in another dimension and come out when I’m done! I can get 7 hours of sleep for once!”

“Danny wait. Clearly you haven’t read enough sci-fi” Tucker interrupted, “We don’t know the offset of time, or if you can control how much time passes between entering and leaving a dimension.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, I was able to Post A Ghost in no time at all, you literally saw me!”

Tucker cringed. “You can just say tweet, dude.”

“That’s when the door was open,” Sam thought aloud, “What if the door is closed? Does it open again?” They were making too many assumptions about how time travel worked, Sam realized, and Danny could easily get trapped in another dimension if even a single assumption was wrong.

“Well I think you guys are worrying over nothing,” Danny proclaimed. The idea of time travel was too exciting, and was clouding his judgement. Danny opened the second door and flew right in. He floated triumphantly. “See? Nothing to worry about. Maybe napping won’t work out but no harm in hopping around the space-time continuum...right guys? Guys?” Danny turned around - the door was gone, and with it, his way back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ch 1:
> 
> Hello all! This is the first fanfiction I've posted online! I go by mystyrust on tumblr as well, and you might find me lurking around some dp discord servers. I've written incomplete fics before but never posted them online. Just doing this for fun and hoping to improve my writing while I'm at it. I have a soft spot for crossovers :)
> 
> I'd seen concept art / fanart of other anime characters being UA students, so I rolled with that idea to bring Danny into UA as a student, but it'll be a bit before we get there. 
> 
> Some of the ideas presented in this chapter are mildly based on fanon concepts of ghosts (specifically, ghost 'lairs' in the ghost zone)


	2. Chapter 2

“Oh crap,” Danny thought, “How am I going to get home??”. Danny slowed his breathing, and settled to think. Danny was pretty sure the mystical poem on the stone tablet was warning him from messing with the space time continuum.

Here he was an intruder in another world (another dimension, really) with no idea where he was or how to contact - wait! Danny still had the Fenton-Find-A-Ghost on him. He could tweet pictures to Sam and Tucker through his parents’ weird invention. Weird enough that it worked in a different dimension, last he checked. Where did his parents get the parts to build a device like that? Putting that thought to the back of his mind, Danny took a quick selfie with the sky in the background - hopefully Sam and Tucker will realize from his picture that the portal disappeared. Maybe they can do something to open it up again from their side? Who knows how long it’ll take them to figure that out.

Danny flew down to an abandoned alley and transformed back - white rings travelled up and down his body, replacing his black jumpsuit with his street clothes, and his ghostly white hair with raven black hair. He decided to get a good look at his environment, to see what he can make of it. It seems that he was in an urban setting, with buildings and streets organized as he would logically expect.

That was about the most normal thing Danny saw though; he saw humanoid creatures with extra limbs, horns, eyes. Straight out of a game of Dungeons and Dragons - which Danny never played enough of. Humanoid creatures that walked on their 2 feet, wearing human clothes, and going about their business as normal - no one batted an eye, so this must be normal. Humans with non-mutated features also went about their business in the crowd of people, so Danny didn’t necessarily stick out like a sore thumb. If only he could stop gawking at people and pay attention to where he was walking.

Luckily, no one paid him any attention - they were all watching a giant lady in a tight suit about a block away. Where did she even come from?! Danny could’ve sworn she wasn’t there 5 minutes ago. For some reason, the crowd all rushed towards the Giant Lady - was no one worried that she’d step on them if they got to close to her? If this world was anything like back home, people were probably trying to get their next viral video or social media post by photographing or recording something incredibly unusual. Was this lady considered unusual by this world’s standards? She didn’t have extra appendages or an inhuman skin type, but she was bigger than some of the buildings. If her size was normal - Danny reasoned - the buildings would’ve been built to accommodate that size.

“It’s Mount Lady!” He heard passersby cheer, while recording with their smartphones. Was she some sort of celebrity?

“Oh! Hi guyss!” The giant lady turned around and struck a pose - peace sign, duck lips and all. So are selfies universal, or only in dimensions that have smartphones? Was she a celebrity of some sort? Mount Lady didn’t pose for long - she turned her attention back to the small creature she was attempting to fight.

“Catch that villain, Mount Lady!” “You can do it!” “Don’t let him escape!” “I’m your number 1 fan Mount Lady!” Danny could hear cheers echo throughout the crowd. Why would everyone watch the ‘superhero’ fight the villain? Was this some sort of LARP session, or was superheroism a spectator sport?

Danny couldn’t even see what the Mountain Lady was fighting, but decided that he could get a better look in his ghost form. He used a small bit of his energy and turned invisible while still in his human form – escaping the crowd and running into a nearby abandoned alleyway. He collapsed the selfie stick attachment on his Fenton gadget, and stuck both it and his phone into one of his pockets.

“I’m going ghost!” White rings materialized around Danny’s waist, traveling up and down his body. They transformed Danny Fenton into Danny Phantom, his ghostly alter ego. Once his clothes were replaced with his standard black jumpsuit with white accents and his hair color inverted, he flew out to get a better view of what Mount Lady was looking at. She was fighting a humanoid creature with exposed brains, a muscular build, and large, unsettling eyes. It was jumping cross rooftops, while she towered over the buildings and tried to catch and beat it down.

“Stand still, Noumu!” Mount Lady exclaimed as she swung a fist in that creature’s general direction. The creature was fast, but small. Mount Lady’s size probably put her at a disadvantage; maybe Danny could offer a hand.

“Hey, brainfart! Eat this!” Danny called as he fired an ecto blast towards the creature - the Noumu. The green blast of energy hit the creature on its arm. Danny needed to work on his aim, and fast; the Noumu turned his attention towards Danny. It leaped - higher than Danny expected - and landed squarely on Danny pinning him down. Danny squirmed to try and get free, but the creature was definitely stronger.

“What are you -? Don’t worry, we have back up coming!” the Lady yelled in Danny’s general direction. No sooner did she say that, a man swung onto the rooftop and began to assess the situation.

“Kamui Woods, there you are! Quick, the Noumu trapped someone, we need to set him free!”

Danny got a good look at the creature - a reptilian mouth that made him think the creature would eat him. It had some portions of exposed skin and muscle throughout his body. Danny decided not to remain hostage any longer - he turned intangible and escaped the creature’s grasp, then turned invisible to escape the creature’s sight. Invisibility and intangibility were hard to both do at once, but Danny could do it if he focused his energy hard enough. Not understanding what happened or how his prey escaped, the creature stood there dumbfounded and distracted long enough for Mount Lady’s backup to strike. A thick branch struck a blow to the creature’s head.

“There was no hostage!” Kamui Woods reported to Mount Lady, “He was just standing there, kinda distracted though,” Kamui told his partner. Danny was not far from the group of supers, invisible and observing their battle. He could see Kamui Woods was a man with a wooden body and looked very much like a tree trunk that was wearing clothes.

Kamui’s arms were branched out and physically bound the Noumu in a tight rope hold – but not for long. The Noumu’s arm and leg muscles expanded, breaking out of its wooden holds. It screeched aloud, as if showing off its raw strength. Kamui certainly did not know the creature could physically power up like that – guess they would have to tire the creature out before capturing him.

“Mount Lady, hold him down!” but she was a little slow. The Noumu leaped up, prepared to attack Mount Lady in the face.

“Oh no you don’t,” Danny flew into the Noumu, knocking it off its trajectory and away from Mount Lady’s face. In the process, Danny became visible and tangible, allowing Kamui Woods to notice his presence for the first time. Danny flew out with the Noumu, taking the fight to a more remote location

“Who...was that?” Kamui asked, watching them fly away.

“He WAS the hostage,” Mount Lady responded, “but I didn’t even see him escape!”

“Where was he even hiding? It looked like he appeared almost out of nowhere”

The Noumu was heavier than Danny expected - he only diverted its path by a couple buildings. After the two impacted the rooftop of the abandoned building, Danny floated away, ready to resume mid range combat with his ecto blasts. The Noumu recovered fast - immediately leaped to close the distance between Danny.

“Hey! Stand! Still! Will ya?” Danny exclaimed between ecto blasts. The Noumu was nonverbal, responding only with a guttural scream. It was surprisingly hard to reposition himself and aim after every dodge, especially when his target moved fast. The Noumu excelled at close combat, and tried to close the distance. Danny’s mediocre skills in close combat would lose out to the Noumu’s strength. He tried to keep his distance, weakening him with his ecto blasts, but he took some physical punches that he couldn’t avoid.

Danny and the creature were at a stalemate - it would be a battle of stamina, the loser being the first one who gave out. And it looked like Danny was losing.

“Ah! Got him!” The wooden guy came parkour leaping from the buildings behind and extended his wooden arm. Branches grew from his arm and trapped the creature, binding him tighter than before. Danny hoped the Noumu was tired enough to not escape the bindings this time, because Danny was exhausted.

“Knock him out, quick!” The wooden guy urged Danny, “It would be nice if he didn’t escape again,”

He mustered all the energy he could to aim a weak ecto powered punch at the Noumu’s face - easier now that his target wasn’t moving as much. While the blow didn’t leave any signs of chemical burns the Noumu’s face, it definitely knocked him out - the creature’s brain seemed to marginally shrink, his head slouched, and his eyes rolled closed.

“Thanks for your help back there!” The giant lady exclaimed - who was not as giant anymore. She made her way over by expertly parkour leaping through roof tops, just like the tree trunk guy. “Who are you?”

“Ah, my name is Danny. Danny Phantom”

“I am Kamui Woods. This is my colleague, Mount Lady”. Kamui extended his hand in a handshake.

“Is your hand OK? It kinda branched out and took a lot of hits” Danny asked, before accepting the handshake.

“Don’t worry about my hand, my quirk lets the wooden cells of my body grow strong and proliferate, even if they are no longer connected to my body,” Kamui replied. That would explain how he was able to keep the creature entrapped without the wooden bindings being directly connected to his body.

What a strange power, Danny thought as he shook the man’s hand. What a tough, firm handsha- wait! Now Danny was being trapped, just like the creature! Wooden branches extended from Kamui’s hand, and wrapped themselves around Danny’s torso, making it a little hard to breathe.

“Agh! Hey, what gives!” Danny exclaimed.

“Kamui! What are you doing? He helped us!” Mount Lady exclaimed from behind.

“I couldn’t find you in the official database of registered heroes. I’ll let you go when you tell us your hero license number and affiliation, and we can verify it with the database. If we can’t, I’m sorry, we’re going to have to place you under arrest for Illegal Quirk Use and Vigilantism,” Kamui explained. “I’m sorry to have to do this after you helped us, but it is the law.”

“A-Are you serious? You’re telling me I broke a law just by helping out in the way only I could? This makes no flipping sense!” Danny decided now was a great time to make his escape. He was exhausted, sure, but he could muster invisibility and intangibility long enough to escape his surprise cage. He did just that.

Kamui felt his grip slacken - the guy disappeared into thin air! “Hey, where did he go!”

“He did that earlier when the Noumu had him trapped, right before you came!” Mount Lady told her partner, “See, I know what I saw!”

“Where could he have gone?” Kamui wondered aloud. He was definitely worn out from the fight, and couldn’t have gone far, so he must be nearby, Kamui reasoned. He noticed a flash of bright white light in the alley below them - maybe a witness may have seen Danny Phantom pass by. Instead, he found a raven haired teenager passed out on a pile of trash bags. The kid’s hair was a mess, and he noticed some bruises on his arms.

“Hey, kid, wake up!” Kamui went to the teenage and tried to gently slap him awake. “Are you OK? Everything will be fine, don’t worry,” Kamui never saw a casualty in the short time he’s been a pro hero so far, and he wasn’t sure how to handle this. “...Who did this to you?” Maybe he was an unrelated Quirk gang skirmish? Regardless of the cause, this kid needed help, and Kamui intended to do so.

The teenager briefly awoke, looking at Kamui with unfocused eyes. “No...Nou..mu” was all he said before he passed out again. This kid was a witness! He definitely needed to be questioned by the police. But first, the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ch 2:  
> Action scenes can be tricky to write!  
> This was meant to parallel the first chapter of the My Hero Academia manga, where Mount Lady and Kamui Woods are seen fighting a villain. Though this story does not take place in the beginning of the MHA storyline ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 
> 
> The idea behind this chapter came from the Hero Killer arc of MHA, where vigilantism isn't rewarded by society, no matter the positive outcome.


	3. Chapter 3

When Danny opened his eyes, he saw a hazy white ceiling. Where was he? A hospital? He awoke and sat up straight, hoping no one took a blood test. He avoided hospitals and doctor appointments ever since the lab accident that turned him half ghost - he didn't want to explain to a physician or his parents why there was ectoplasm in his blood.

“Ah you’re awake!” The nurse in the room exclaimed “You had some pretty bad bruises last night, but mostly you were just fatigued. You’ll be fine soon with a little rest.”

“Wait, last night? How did I get here?”

“It seems you were hurt when the pro heroes were fighting a villain downtown,” the nurse explained. “Kamui Woods was helping the clean up crew when they found you. It seems you were the only hospitalized casualty.”

“Ah, I see...I’m glad there weren’t too many people hurt,” Danny responded thoughtfully.

“You’re doing much better since yesterday but you still need rest. I don’t think you can be released until later today though.” the nurse supplied, “Who is your emergency contact? We can have them pick you up after you get a clean bill of health.”

“I...don’t have any emergency contact.” Danny responded, “Also I’m really really scared of needles so I hope no blood tests,”

“Ah, don’t worry, we would just do a basic physical before releasing you,” the nurse responded, and left the room. Danny was glad she didn’t comment on his lack of an emergency contact.

The nurse was well known for her professional poker face - great in a casino, not so great for bedside manner. But maybe today, it served her well; it masked her surprise at finding out that the teenager - an obvious minor who couldn’t be older than 15 - did not have an emergency contact. An orphan or a runaway, perhaps. Either way, the nurse was confident that the police would help him find his guardians or place him in the foster system.

Danny got up and from his hospital bed and stretched his arms and legs a little. His back was a little sore but his arms and legs were not too bad. He took a lot of hits during the fight, and was glad the bruises weren’t too bad – Danny always did heal fast. His phone and Fenton-Find-A-Ghost were next to his bedside; a few scratches, but not outwardly broken. Danny decided to post another tweet - to “Post his Ghost” - to update Sam and Tucker. He took a picture of the T.V. in his hospital room and let the Fenton-Find-A-Ghost post it on Twitter.

He then put that in his pocket and opened his phone - 35% battery, yeesh. He connected to the hospital’s guest Wi-Fi and checked his Twitter. His photos were uploaded on Twitter, GPS tagged as Tokyo, Japan, Universe HK3. Danny was 100% sure he knew zero useful Japanese phrases, but he was able to converse with the costumed heroes yesterday and the nurse now just fine. Maybe this was a universe where English was more predominant? Anime only taught him battle cries and swear words.

No response on the Twitter timeline from Sam or Tucker yet - maybe this was what Tucker meant by time dilation? Danny pulled out some stationary from the bedside next to him and wrote out a message in clear block letters: “Portal closed suddenly, stuck in this world, looking for way to get back home,” He took a picture with his Fenton gadget and let it post to Twitter – his workaround to the fact that he couldn’t caption his pictures.

There was also a universal charger on his bedside. Danny found a port that matched his phone and sighed in relief as he noticed his phone really did start charging. Thank goodness for smartphone culture existing in this world! Since Danny couldn't really fall asleep again, he decided that now would be a good time to research what he didn't know. Who was Kamui Woods? And what was a Noumu?

A few hours of internet browsing later, Danny read up on Kamui Woods and Mount Lady on the online Heropedia. Those two were the ‘heroes’ whose battle he interrupted yesterday. There were other heroes too, like All Might, Eraserhead, Present Mic - too many to research all at once but definitely buzz words he needed to research later. He couldn't find too much information on the Noumu - there were some forums that had theories, but no “-pedia” site that centrally listed the information he wanted to know about it. Maybe no one really knew.

“Ah you're awake,” a nurse noticed from outside the room, “You have a couple visitors,”. In came Kamui Woods, Mount Lady, and a man in a police officer’s uniform, and Danny began to mildly panic. Oh shit was Kamui trying to arrest him again? But maybe Danny had a chance - Kamui Woods only met Danny Phantom, and not Danny Fenton.

“You seem to be doing a lot better compared to yesterday,” Kamui Woods began, “I'm Kamui Woods,” he extended his hand in a handshake. Remembering what happened yesterday, Danny visibly hesitated to return the handshake. Seeing his hesitation, Kamui retracted his handshake.

“Oh kid, you're not in trouble or anything, we just want a statement about what you witnessed yesterday,” the new person said, “I am Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi with the police department, and investigating the cause of the yesterday’s incident.” Danny relaxed a little. If he could just fudge his way through a conversation, he could walk out of here soon and work on finding the spawn point of the portal he came out of.

“Oh, I see,” Danny responded, “How can I help?”

“I’ll start with some leading questions and these two may fill in the blank or ask their own questions as needed,” Tsukauchi explained. He got out a notepad and sat on a chair next to Danny's bedside. “Ah, if you're not familiar, these two are Mount Lady and Kamui Woods, who were the main pro heroes in yesterday's fight,”

“Nice to meet you,” Danny responded politely. He did not confirm or deny his familiarity with the two.

“Let's start simple: Who are you and what is your quirk?”

“Uhh OK. My name is Danny Fenton, and -” Danny paused. What was a quirk again? His brief internet research seemed to suggest that quirks were synonymous with super powers. Did everyone have a quirk in this world, or only a few? Oh no he paused too long and it was getting awkward he had to finish the sentence before it became obvious he was thinking too long. “- and I don't have a quirk.”

Was not revealing his powers the right answer? Maybe it was, if Kamui Woods was trying to arrest him yesterday. He hoped his lie was convincing enough. He must be a decent liar if he can hide the fact that he's half ghost from his ghost-crazy parents...right?

Tsukauchi made some notes on his notepad, and asked the next question. “When did you first encounter the Noumu?” Oh shit what happened yesterday and how well could Danny fudge this???

“I...uh, was taking a shortcut through that one alley and...uh...that was when the Noumu kinda jumped in from above and tried to punch at me? Or something to that effect. I guess I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Phew ok that sounded believable enough. Mount Lady seemed a little confused - hopefully she wasn't questioning his story too hard already.

“Where were you headed when the Noumu attacked?”

‘....The convenience store?”

“At 1 in the afternoon? On a Wednesday?” Kamui Woods asked.

“I...uh...ditched school to eat lunch out...and was on my way back...and yeah? You know.” Danny had to remember to be consistent with his story. If he knew he was being questioned he would've spent his free time coming up with a believable story instead of researching on the internet.

“Did you get a good look at what the Noumu looked like?” Thank goodness they didn’t ask which class he was ditching or anything about school.

“Not for too long, it kinda moved really fast. Its brains were kinda freaky and his arms were huge.” Danny was relieved that the detective stopped poking at the weakest part of his story

“How many injuries did you sustain from the Noumu?”

“Uhh...a few bruises on my arms and legs, a minor bruise on my torso....I think” Mount Lady raised her brow. This Noumu was capable of punching holes into the wall easily. She thought the kid would've at least had a couple broken bones - thank goodness he didn't - but his injuries looked more like he encountered a school yard bully than a Noumu.

“Are you bullied in school?” Mount Lady interrupted.

“How is this relev-”

“Just a hunch...” Mount Lady turned to Danny. “Are you bullied?”

“Well, yeah, I'd definitely say I am,” Danny wasn't sure where this was going.

“Do you ever skip school to avoid your bully?”

“I've considered it”

A check mark on Tsukauchi’s notepad - Danny was telling the truth. Mount Lady’s hunch wasn't working out, since Danny wasn't responding like she thought he would. She thought Danny was lying about his injuries, that they were really from a bully instead of the Noumu - but that line of questioning didn’t get the answer she thought she would.

She wasn't even sure what motivation he might have for lying, but she knew he was. There was just no way a Quirkless person could take a hit from a Noumu and recover as fast as Danny did. Either he was lying about encountering the Noumu…or he was lying about being Quirkless. Reaching that deduction was useless if she couldn’t use it to form better questions. Luckily, Detective Tsukauchi was experienced with questioning witnesses, and his quirk helped.

Detective Tsukauchi’s quirk was called Human Lie Detector - he could tell when a person was telling a truth or lie in a conversation, which was very useful for interrogation. Mount Lady and Kamui Woods were trying to supplement the detective’s investigation by providing details and helping with the line of questioning.  

 “You can continue with your questions up Tsukauchi-san,” it didn't matter if she knew Danny was lying, she had to get him to be truthful about something meaningful that happened yesterday, and the only complete truth he's said was his name, and the fact that he was bullied. Most of Danny's answers were half-truths. A complete lie gave as much information as the truth if it was a response to a yes or no question. Mount Lady still had to learn how to formulate better lines of questioning - something she didn’t learn in hero school.

There was one line of questioning that Mount Lady and Kamui Woods had requested Detective Tsukauchi to ask though.

“Did you see a bright white flash of light in the alley?”

“...What do you mean? I don’t think so?” Danny wasn’t sure how this was related to the Noumu at all.

“Like, maybe someone flew past you right before it happened?” Kamui Woods supplied.

“Flew?” Danny scrunched his eyes in concentration. “No, I didn’t see anyone fly,..” Danny thought back to the fight. The only one flying that entire time was…

Danny’s eyes widened slightly with realization. They were asking if he saw Danny  _Phantom_. Danny  _Fenton_  had to be careful not to slip up, and maybe steer the conversation into another direction. Though, it was definitely more of an interrogation. Is this how people felt right before a job interview?

“Did you catch that creature though?” Danny asked. Proactively asking a question might help steer the conversation in a different direction.

“Oh, yes we did!” Mount Lady chimed in, “We definitely had some help, but they didn’t stick around long enough for us to thank him, hah,”

“Did anyone else get hurt?” Danny asked, “I hope the fight didn’t leave you both with too many injuries,” Danny already knew he was the only one hospitalized.

“No one else got hurt, thankfully,” Kamui Woods supplied, “The two of us didn’t have as many injuries – nothing we couldn’t heal with the help of someone’s healing quirk. That other guy looked pretty wiped out though,” Danny stayed silent, not sure what to else to say.

“He calls himself Danny Phantom!” Mount Lady exclaimed to Danny, “I think it’s kinda cool that you have the same first name as him! Danny isn’t a terribly common first name here!” She sounded an excited fangirl.

“It isn’t? Oh, haha, go figure” Danny shifted his eyes and looked away, like when he’d tell his parents that  _No, their ghost tech really is broken if its homing in on their son, who is not a ghost_.

“That’s technically classified information!” Tsukauchi reminded Mount Lady sternly.

“Oh didn’t you say your last name is Fenton? That sounds kinda like Phantom, doesn’t it?” Mount Lady wondered, not heeding Tsukauchi’s warning too well. Danny breathed in sharply. Tsukauchi caught on.

“Do you know anyone named ‘Danny Phantom’?” The detective was just about to give up and pursue other leads, but maybe this was just the line of questioning they needed.

“Nope, never heard of him!” Danny said stiffly. The detective didn’t need his quirk to tell him the kid was lying. Tsukauchi marked an X on his notepad for his colleagues to see. He decided now was a good time to spill the beans.

“Please don’t lie – tell us what you know about the vigilante who calls himself Danny Phantom,”

“Haha I’m not – “

“I know you’re lying. And I also know you haven’t been telling the truth for a while,” the detective replied sharply, “Where do you go to school again? I don’t think you mentioned a name.” Danny was sweating like crazy.

“…A-Amity Park High School?” It was almost laughable how terribly thought out his story was. Kamui Woods looked up from his tablet device after some typing. “There’s no school with that name nearby,” Tsukauchi gave Kamui an affirmative nod, permission granted for a rare apprehension of a witness. 

“Listen kid,” Kamui Woods moved fast, grabbing Danny’s hands and handcuffing them to each other. Kamui’s hands branched at fast speeds, grabbing the handcuffs and binding them to Danny’s hands before he could even blink. “You’re going to come with us, in less than comfortable circumstances, until we get a clearer picture of the truth,”

“Wait, what! Isn’t there, like, a law against arresting citizens? On what grounds can you detain me?” Danny asked defensively.

“On the grounds of inhibiting a police investigation,” the detective answered, “Even without my Human Lie Detector Quirk, the holes in your story were easy enough to find,” Danny knew he wasn’t the smoothest liar, but it looks like he wouldn't have been able to fool the detective anyway. It seems his only choice was to run. “I don’t know who you are, but we suggest you come quietly, it’ll be easier for you in the long run,”

“I really really don’t have time for this!!” Danny screamed. He concentrated his powers of intangibility on his wrists, and escaped from his handcuffs. Then, he jumped out of bed and grabbed the Fenton-Find-A-Ghost from his bedside.

“Block the exit! Don’t let him escape!” Mount Lady and Kamui Woods guarded the only door out, while the detective placed himself in front of the windows. None of them tried to physically bound Danny, they were focusing their efforts on preventing his escape. Danny willed his whole body to go intangible, and ran right through the exit blocked by the two heroes.

“How did he-? Why didn’t you grab him?” Tsukauchi exclaimed at his colleagues.

“It’s like I couldn’t even grab him!” Kamui Woods replied, “He basically slipped right through my fingers, literally!”

“Don’t let him get too far!”

The two heroes and detective ran out into the hallway, looking for the runaway kid who might have more information than he was willing to share. Too many people and too many turns in the hallway outside, and they lost sight of him.

“You scared him!” Mount Lady yelled at Kamui Woods, “Of course a kid who’s getting arrested will make a run for it! Do you really think scaring him is how we get him to tell the truth?!”

“Well, you hardly conducted yourself professionally, divulging classified information like that,” Kamui responded back sternly.

“But it did tell us useful information,” Tsukauchi told the two, “If we find Danny Fenton, we’ll find Danny Phantom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ch 3:  
> about 2.7K words, longest chapter so far? This was a combination of 2 shorter scenes that didn't feel appropriate to separate. I wrote this chapter a while ago and took a break to attend to irl things, so I hope it flows nicely with the rest of the story so far.


	4. Chapter 4

How was Danny going to find spawn point of the portal that lead him here? He remembered his portal was in the sky, above the alleys of some nondescript buildings. Which one? Would the portal respawn here after a set amount of time? It shouldn’t have been too far from where he joined the Giant Lady and Tree fighting the Noumu. The scene of that fight was easy enough to find - the wreckage from yesterday’s fight hadn’t been cleaned up yet, and the hospital Danny escaped from was fairly close to that site.

Danny decided on a plan of action - he would stake out the area for as long as he could, until a portal opened again. If it opened here before, it can open here again, he reasoned. Danny soon learned that staking out was fairly boring. On the first day, he hid out on the rooftop of a building while passing time playing puzzle games on his phone every now and then. He made sure to move around to a different rooftop every couple hours to get a look at other alleyways - maybe the portal would spawn in one of them. How long would a naturally spawned ghost portal even stay open?

Danny’s plan didn’t feel very efficient – what if a portal opened and closed while he was still too far away? It would help if he could create clones himself and have each clone stake out one alleyway. If Vlad can create ghost clones, Danny should be able to as well - but he didn’t even know how to start going about that. Frankly, Naruto was overpowered for being able to do that as an almost dropout of the Ninja Academy.

Eventually his phone died, and he became hungry, so he took a little something to eat from the convenience store on the block. Danny felt bad about stealing, but he had no money - hopefully he wouldn’t have to steal too much, and no one would notice.

But maybe someone did notice. On his third day, police officers were interviewing the convenience store owner. Hiding from a police officer was easy enough - he just turned invisible and walked right in. Wasn’t it a little overkill for police to be involved in minor inventory inconsistencies in a small time convenience store? Maybe Danny stole too much - though he swore he didn’t. He planned to be in and out in a flash, but he couldn’t help and overhear the police investigation.

“Have you seen a black haired, blue eyed kid around here? Here’s a police sketch of what he looks like,” Danny figured they were talking about him.

“No I haven’t,” the store owner replied. Danny made sure he was never seen by the store owner.

“Have you had any inventory problems?” Danny stiffened, almost afraid to move.

“I don’t think so?” the store owner responded, “I mean things get lost a little here and there but I don’t think it’s enough to be a problem. How is that related to the investigation?”

“It’s not, but I used my Perfect Memory Quirk and counted 65 instant noodles packets on that shelf when we walked in. Right now there are only 63, and no one’s entered or left the store since we’ve been here,” one of the police officers responded. Danny gasped, and held his loot tightly. He inwardly cursed when he heard the packaging crinkle - he might be invisible, but he wasn’t silent. A couple officers turned their heads, looking around for the source of the noise, for the invisible thief. Seriously though, what is with these police officers having mundanely useful powers? Why do they have powers to begin with?

“Find him! Wherever he is!”

Danny flew out of the store, through the door and up onto his rooftop. He saw a couple officers run out the convenience store and pause, looking around for their invisible culprit. If they can’t see him and he’s far away enough, he’s safe, Danny reasoned. He flew over to another rooftop a couple buildings over, and relaxed, undoing his invisibility and his ghost form.

But below on the street, the officers were fairly calm and collected. “Did you see where he went?” One officer directed the question to his colleague. The other officer, while humanoid looking, had reptilian looking skin, a large jaw, and red eyes.

“Yes, with my Heat Vision Quirk activated, I can see him sitting on a rooftop, a couple buildings away from here. He flew there. If you couldn’t see him, he must have been invisible too.”

“How do you propose we catch him?”

“With the help of the only man who can stand a chance. We’ll need Eraserhead’s help,"

"Isn't he in school right now?"

Just like the students of UA High, even the professors of UA abided by the dorm system. They lived and worked at school to protect and nurture the next generation. Only in their role as pro heroes did professors leave campus to aid law enforcement when their heroic abilities were needed.

Looks like today was Eraserhead’s turn to leave campus and help the police. It seemed urgent, so he assigned his students some work for study hall, supervised by another staff member. Eraserhead – also known as Aizawa Shouta when off duty – drove his car to the location he was called, about one block away from Walhardt convenience store. He expected to see property damage and one or more pro heroes wrestling a villain down - instead, he saw police officers casually dispersed near the outside of the store.

Eraserhead approached the officer who seemed like he was in charge, reporting his arrival. “Pro Hero Eraserhead here, just like you asked. I know you said it was a high priority emergency, but this looks like the opposite of that.”

“Ah, Eraserhead, thank you for coming, allow me to fill in the details,” the officer responded. “At 1:30 pm today, we came to question the convenience store owner on Detective Tsukauchi’s Person of Interest. One of our officers with an eidetic memory quirk noticed that inventory was being stolen right under our noses. It seems our thief has some sort of invisibility quirk; he escaped right under our noses.” The officer turned and pointed to a building a couple blocks away. “We have an officer with a heat vision quirk who followed our suspect, and is staking out at a location a few blocks towards that direction. We didn’t want our suspect to flee, and we didn’t know if we could catch him again given his invisibility quirk, so we called you as fast as we could,”

While Aizawa could see how time sensitive his arrival was to success of this mission, he couldn’t care less. “Isn’t this overkill for a convenience store thief? Why bother catching him at all?” Why was this even important?

“Well, we suspect he has multiple quirks – he was able to fly and turn invisible – and that could suggest a relationship with the League of Villains, given their attempts to manufacture Noumus with multiple quirks in one body.” Now they had Eraserhead’s interest.

“Alright, what’s your plan of attack?”

“We want to sneak in quick. Our officer staked out at the location says the target is small. We have Kamui Woods waiting at the location, so perhaps he can overpower them after you disable his quirk.”

“Sounds good,”

A short car drive later, and Eraserhead was at the stakeout location with Kamui Woods, and two more civilian officers. They didn’t waste their time to set their plan in motion - Kamui launched Eraserhead, high in the air, well above the rooftops. He moved his goggles to get a clear view of the suspect - who was already visible. He saw a kid, who looked like he could be as old as one of his students, visibly shocked that with a new person’s presence. The kid had some instant ramen and a sleeping bag nearby where he sat. Aizawa felt bad; the kid looked homeless.

But Eraserhead had to put his feelings aside - if this kid had multiple quirks, he needed to be contained first. His hair flared and his eyes were on his target, eyelids stretched as far as he could. The kid was distracted by Eraserhead’s presence to notice Kamui Woods climb up to the rooftop underneath him.

Danny turned around to run - who did he piss off this time? No time to stick around to find out. Danny called upon his ghost half to transform himself - but found that he couldn’t. This was strange. The only time this had happened was when Vlad gave him a shock from the Plasmius Maximum. No matter. Danny tried to outrun his pursuers, until he tripped under a tree branch and felt some more wrap his torso.

Was this it? Would Danny go to jail for petty crimes and never return home to his friends and family? The last thing he said to his sister was to stop nagging him. The last thing he told his parents was a lie about how he wasn’t being bullied in school. Were these last moments how his family would remember him before they can’t find out why he’s missing? The last thing Danny did at home before ending up here was poop in the toilet - oh my god he hadn’t pooped in 3 days and juvenile prison toilets are probably gross and - 

“Hey! It’s you!” Danny heard a voice say. Did someone recognize him?

The branches holding him turned around, and he saw the branch – or the trunk? –  of Kamui Woods. One of the people who saw him run away from his hospital room. What a terrible time to run into a familiar face.

“What are you -? Just leave me alone!” Danny struggled against the branches holding him. He tried to go intangible. He couldn’t. He tried to go invisible. He couldn’t. He tried to go ghost, at the risk of revealing his ability to enemy. He couldn’t. “Why can’t I-?”

“We’ll be the ones to ask questions. You can call me Eraserhead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ch 4:  
> And now we know where in the BNHA timeline this takes place :)  
> Sometime after the Kamino arc in season 3 
> 
> Referenced the Plasmius Maximus from the DP episode "Maternal Instincts". In that episode, Danny seemed significantly more competent, but I've made the decision to make Danny less competent at the start of this fic and (hopefully) grow stronger in later chapters. 
> 
> This chapter was 2 mini chapters that felt unfair to post separately, so I posted them together. Hope it flows well! 
> 
> Also, thank you to everyone who left comments and kudos!


	5. Chapter 5

“You’ll never believe this Eraserhead, but this kid is one of Detective Tsukauchi’s two Persons of Interest!”. Eraserhead. What a ridiculous name. Where was his sidekick Pencilhead? Or was he the sidekick of Pencilhead? Or maybe...the proper name would be PencilPoint.

The ridiculous hero names were all Danny could think about when he was caught. It made him chuckle a little, on the inside. It distracted him from the fact that he might never see his family again. Is this what Jazz called dissociating? That’s probably what he was doing right up until they reached the police station and he was taken to a private room for questioning. Once he zoned out, it was pretty hard to zone back in.

He was taken to a lonely interrogation room. His interrogators included the same three people from his hospital room - Tsukauchi, Mount Lady, and Kamui Woods, if he remembered correctly. There was a fourth guy - the one they called Eraserhead - who was also at the interrogation. Eraserhead was probably the reason why none of Danny’s ghost powers worked, but Danny had no idea how that guy was even cancelling them out.

“Let’s start again, shall we? I’m Detective Tsukauchi. I suggest you tell the truth and don’t lie this time.”

“Why bother trying? It’s not like you’d even believe me.” Danny responded somberly.

“My quirk lets me tell apart truth from lies. If you’re telling the truth, I’ll believe you.”

“Why do you call it a quirk, it’s some sort of power isn’t it?”

Aizawa and the other interrogators raised their brows in surprise. Did this kid live under a rock? Asking why a quirk is called a quirk is like asking why orange is both a fruit and color and a word without a rhyme - it just is. Detective Tsukauchi was puzzled, but humored Danny.

“When everyone’s super, then no one is special anymore. There is a sense that these abilities make a person a little different from an ordinary baseline, but they are hardly extraordinary either. They’re quirky – hence, Quirks.” So, quirks were mundanely useful superpowers. The detective’s answer gave Danny the idea that everyone had ‘quirks’ instead of just a few people - which made him realize that his question probably sounded a little dumb to someone who knew that.

“Let’s establish some facts, here, OK Danny?” The detective began, “First of all, how old are you”

“14,”

“Where do you live?”

“Amity Park”

“And what is your quirk? Last time you said you didn’t have one, but we know that’s not true.”

“Ah, well...it’s kinda...hard to explain?” Danny’s eyes shifted nervously sideways.

“No matter how ridiculous it sounds, if it’s the truth, I’ll believe you,” Did this kid have some trauma associated with his quirk? It sounded like something difficult to share.

“A-all right. I’ll try,” Danny took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to calm his nerves. He opened his eyes and looked at everyone in the room. “I’m half ghost.”

He expected shocked expressions - that’s certainly what would’ve happened if he told anyone at Amity Park - but they were mostly confused. Guess his answer wasn’t self-explanatory. Maybe ghosts didn’t come to this dimension often enough? Or maybe weird biology was normal to them, given that Kamui Woods looked like a talking tree trunk – no offense to the guy.

“Can you explain what that means, in relation to your quirk?”

“I told you it wasn’t easy to explain,” Danny started. “Well, it’s like...I have the abilities and some biological characteristics of a ghost, because my DNA is infused with ectoplasm. I...I can walk through walls, disappear - I mean, turn invisible - and fly. I can also shoot ectoplasmic beams from my hands. That’s, uh, all I know so far, there’s a couple powers I haven’t figured out 100% yet,” Like cloning. Or the more creative uses of ectoplasm that Danny saw Vlad Plasmius use.

Now his interrogators were genuinely surprised. Aizawa couldn’t help but be reminded of Todoroki Shouto - a student in his class who was born with two quirks that coexisted in the same body. It must have taken generations of selective quirk marriages for a child to have as many powers coexist naturally as Danny does. Have quirks even been around long enough for that many useful quirks to be combined organically? Aizawa suspected foul play.

“Mind if I ask some questions, detective?” Eraserhead interrupted. Detective Tsukauchi gave him an affirmative nod.

“What powers do your parents have?”

A strange question. They didn’t ask if his parents had powers or not, that assumption was already made, Danny noted. “Uhhh…the power of science?”

“Seriously, answer the question properly,” This guy looked annoyed, and like he hadn’t slept in days.

“They don’t have…quirks?” Danny answered carefully.

“How old were you when you got these powers?”

“I got them a few months ago...so still 14,” Danny noticed his interrogators were more visibly shocked than before. That explains why the kid wasn’t found in the public database of registered quirks or registered pro-heroes - he was born quirkless.

“Who gave you your powers?”

“Uhhh…no one?”

“No masked man who asked you to do his bidding in return for power?” Eraserhead was getting impatient.

“No,”

“What is your connection with the League of Villains and the Noumu?” Eraserhead demanded. Danny was visibly nervous – more jargon he didn’t 100% understand.

“Nothing! I don’t even –”

“He’s telling the truth,” the detective interrupted, calming the atmosphere slightly. “Who is Danny Phantom? Is that your hero name?”

“Oh…yeah…It’s the nickname I go by, when I…you know…fight bad guys?”

Everyone was silent for a while, not sure how to process that information. Danny tried to break the awkward silence.

“Probably wasn’t a good idea to recycle my first name like that.”

“It’s advised against, though not uncommon,” Detective Tsukauchi responded, while deep in thought. The awkward silence returned.

Danny was telling the truth, but it didn’t logically make sense. How long had he been fighting as a vigilante? Why didn’t he apply to a Hero school? With his quirk – or quirks – he’d be accepted in almost any top rated Hero school in the country. Detective Tsukauchi tucked this knowledge aside; perhaps it would be answered with his next line of questioning.

“There’s something else I’ve been meaning to ask,” The detective pulled out a paper from his trench coat and unfolded it, for Danny to see the message written inside. A message that Danny wrote himself 3 days ago. “Portal closed suddenly, stuck in this world, looking for way to get back home,” the paper read, which Danny took a picture of to update-tweet his friends using his Fenton gadget.

“Did you write this message?” the detective asked. Danny stayed silent. “We found it in your hospital room after your little dine and dash.”

If he had any hope of getting home or even understanding what was going on, Danny knew he had to cooperate. But he also needed to learn about this new place too, and how much could he really tell without risking his well-being? He’d already told these people more than he told his parents. Weighing his options, Danny decided to it was better to have these powerful people as friends – allies? acquaintances? – rather than enemies. These people seemed nice enough – so did Vlad when Danny met him the first time – but maybe he should give them a chance to be his allies rather than anticipate enmity.

“Yeah,” Danny responded after thoughtful silence.

“Who was it for?”

“My friends, we got separated,” So far, Tsukauchi could tell that Danny was telling the truth,...but the truth implied the impossible.

“Where are you from? You wrote ‘stuck in this world’. Did you mean like a parallel universe?” the detective asked.

“Yeah, that’s,…basically it. I’m from a parallel dimension and I got stuck here,”

“Are there others with the same quirk as you in your dimension?”

“There aren’t _any_ quirks in my dimension,” Danny responded. “There are ghosts. Ghosts try to spook people too much, and people try to exterminate ghosts and I just do my best to make sure no one gets hurt.” Danny paused. Was this too off topic? “That’s what I was trying to do when I.. hopped in, to that Noumu fight, you know.”

“Hey kid, if everyone with a quirk played Good Samaritan then who takes responsibility for personal and property damage?” Kamui Woods spoke up.

“Then am I supposed to just stand by when I can help?!”

“Someone could’ve gotten hurt.” Mount Lady answered, “You did. And You’re lucky it wasn’t that bad. You’re lucky that spectators were far enough away that they weren’t caught in the line of fire. You’re lucky that that the battle moved into an abandoned rooftop. You can’t always count on being so lucky.”

Danny reflected silently on Mount Lady’s answer. “Better this damage than someone getting kidnapped or dying,” he responded thoughtfully.

“How can you save someone if you’re too hurt to save yourself?” Aizawa responded, “Technically, you’re not wrong, but our Pro Hero system makes the best effort to minimize all those damages while saving people in need.”

“I didn’t mean trouble, but,” Danny paused, wondering what he could even expect from complete strangers, “you guys tried to arrest me not long after you met me, and it’s not like I know what is or isn’t illegal here.”

“True.” Tsukauchi reasoned. “However, the fact is, there’s no precedent for dealing with interdimensional travelers like yourself. What is your goal here? Is there something you’re after?”

“I…don’t have a reason for even being here. I got lost by accident and I honestly just want to go home. But I don’t even know how to go about doing that.” Danny responded, crestfallen.

“Hey, I have a ridiculous idea that could work out for all of us,” Eraserhead pitched in. “What if you transferred to UA high school?”

Danny was confused. “How would me transferring to high school help anyone?” The others seemed less confused.

“That’s…not a bad idea,” the detective responded after some thought. “With UA’s recent dorm system, Danny would have a place to stay. With the help of Eraserhead and the Support Department, we could research for a way for Danny to go home,” With Eraserhead’s help, Danny’s powers could be suppressed when and if necessary, was the unsaid intention between all the adults.

“What do you think Danny? And what year are you in school?”

“Is this really a good idea?” Danny responded, “I’m not the smartest student out there,”

“It’ll give you a brief crash course on those laws you were so ignorant of,” Aizawa responded, “You’ll get individualized, professional guidance on how to better use your powers, and facilities to train and exercise those powers.” Those sounded like buzz words that have Jazz diving into the admissions office.

Danny couldn’t help but flashback to all the times he didn’t turn in his homework because he was too busy chasing ghosts. It’s not like he could tell his teachers that the reason he didn’t do his homework was because he was battling Skulker, or catching the Box Ghost. Would the people here be…more understanding?

Danny thought back to the cryptic carved message on the stone tablet he encountered in the ghost zone. If Danny understood it correctly, it meant that any effort to ruin the space time continuum would ease itself out. Would that mean that Danny was destined to return to where he came from? Maybe, maybe not – Danny had to find meaning in his current displacement. Maybe, the reason he was here was to attend UA. Or maybe the reason he was here was for some other purpose in the future that had yet to make itself apparent. Perhaps this experience would redeem his terrible grades and improve his slim chances of joining NASA. After some moments in deep thought, Danny gave his affirmative answer to the adults.

“Well, it doesn’t sound too bad I guess.” Jokingly, he added, “And it does beat Juvie,”

“Good, because that was our second choice.”

“Wait wh-“

“Just kidding. That being said, you still have to take a written and practical exam to transfer in proper.”

“…Oh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ch 5:  
> Oh boy real life obligations definitely ate more of my time and energy than I wish. But I managed to watch the MHA Two Heroes movie (first time watching an anime movie screening!) and it was such a fun 96 minute anime filler episode. 
> 
> Interrogation scenes are always "hard" but I kinda like how this turned out (after a bit of editing and shuffling)
> 
> Tsukauchi's "When everyone's super, then no is" is def a reference to the Incredibles.
> 
> If you're still here, thanks for reading, and thank you for all the comments and kudos!


	6. Chapter 6

Danny’s score on the written transfer exam was below average. While math and certain scientific concepts seemed the same, literature and history were not. Danny did not know anything about the Quirk management laws that the 56th prime minister of Japan passed during the rising age of Heroism, or the other miscellaneous protocols that allowed SuperHeroism to be spectated like it is today. Danny could only hope that his barely average academic ability would be supplemented with the practical exam.

He was informed that he could use his ‘quirk’ to the fullest of his abilities, but he wasn’t informed what the goal of the exam really was. Danny managed to keep his ability to overshadow people a secret so far – only because he’d done just once and never had a chance to practice it anymore. And maybe keeping one secret up his sleeve would help provide an element of surprise.

“Helloooo and welcome to our special edition UA entrance exam!” an enigmatic voice boomed from overhead. This must be what talking in caps lock sounds like. Danny was inside a large arena, in front of a large gate – He didn’t get to see a whole lot of the testing center just yet. “My name is Present Mic!” the voice overhead continued, “and you, young Danny, are the only person in today’s entrance exam! While you’re not competing against anyone, you do have to score a certain number of points! You’re taking a modified version of the entrance exam that every UA entrant had to pass! So good luck to you!”

Danny’s shoulders ached – the overnight quarters at the detention center weren’t the most comfortable. He really had to do his best on the remainder of this test to make sure he didn’t go back there. Would they really do that to him? Eraserhead and the detective told Danny the gist of the test last night – that he would be tested on the use of his ‘quirk’ in a simulation, with opponents to fight against. Apparently it was going to be very similar to the exam that all freshman take to get into the school.

“For this exam, your goal is to defeat as many robotic villains as possible! Here is the point breakdown for each villain! Your goal is to score as many points as possible! Good luck!”

The LCD screen on top of the gate displayed the robot villain point breakdown, as well as a countdown timer for when the gate would open and Danny would be allowed inside. He used his time carefully to study how many points each robot was worth.

Eraserhead was sitting up in announcer’s box, with Present Mic, Principal Nezu, and Detective Tsukauchi, set up with the necessary equipment to watch the exam progress from the various camera footage. It was a miracle an exam could be arranged at all.

“Thank you for arranging a transfer exam so last minute,” Eraserhead expressed to the Principal.

“No problem! This isn’t the first time this has happened. After the last transferee you vouched for, I trust your judgement Aizawa.”

“How are you offering rescue points on this exam?” Present Mic asked, “The official entrance exam never explained it, but examinees sometimes saved each other from falling rubble,” Present Mic was in his pro-hero costume, an enigmatic and colorful announcer with well styled hair and facial hair. The upturned collar dark color scheme of his hero costume was stylistically similar to Eraserhead’s hero costume. Black suits were in fashion for heroes of their generation.

“We were going to monitor how much property damage he could minimize from the robot villains - it was also one of the measures of rescue points applied in the official entrance exam,” the Principal responded. The Principal of UA high school was a talking rat - bear hybrid, with intelligence far beyond the other humans in the room. A test designed by him was usually the best test of a student’s quirk.

As if on cue to end their conversation, the buzzer rang and the gate opened, allowing Danny to enter and begin the exam. All the adults turned their attention to the monitor, to see how Danny would go about the exam. It was then that they saw Danny transform – white halo rings that surrounded his waist and split up and down his whole body, replacing his clothes with a contrasting black and white suit. Danny’s dark raven colored hair was replaced with a ghostly white.

“So that’s how he changes into his costume. Pretty convenient.”

Danny flew into the stadium, his legs behind him trailing into a ghost tail. He wasn’t sure what to expect; he saw a normal looking, modern, but deserted, city. Was this area constructed specifically for this type of exercise? Or was it previously inhabited before being abandoned? The city stopped looking normal when one of the buildings up ahead had an explosion near its entrance – in the smoke, Danny noticed some human sized robots come out, holding a bag behind them. Were they…robbers? Danny remembered that they had one of the lowest point value. He’d just have to take it.

He flew up behind the robots at a decent speed, solidified his legs, and gave a solid ecto powered kick to one of the robots. It went down instantly, and didn’t get up. Danny delivered ecto blasts to the remaining to robots, which also went down instantly. The green energy blasts from each of his hands must have caused the robots to short out. Danny looked inside their getaway bag. Normally he would’ve expected jewels or money, but instead it was a bomb, with a minute left to detonate. He didn’t have much time left to act.

Danny wasn’t sure if he would trip some fail safe mechanism if he tried dismantling it , or how powerful the blast really was – gah, he really didn’t know how bombs worked. Instead, Danny took the next best choice he could think of; he flew with the bomb as high as he could, and tossed it even higher when there was just 5 seconds left. As the bomb exploded, Danny turned intangible to avoid the brunt of the blast and debris. The small bomb wouldn’t have caused too much damage, Danny surmised, but it would’ve been enough to blow open a door or escape a police blockade. What were explosives even doing in a test like this? Was this normal?

Danny flew back to where he downed the robot thieves, confirming they were still defeated. If Danny wanted to accumulate more points, he’d have to fight many more and bigger robots. He quickly flew away, looking for villain robots along his street.

Luckily, he didn’t have to look too long.

Robots of all shapes and sizes were causing enormous amounts of destruction – Danny recognized them all from point breakdown chart before the exam. How was he supposed to prioritize which robots to attack first? The smaller robots were worth less points, but numerous, while the larger robots were worth more points, but fewer in number. The larger robots seemed to cause more property damage, so it seemed logical to prioritize them first, right?

At the same time, he knew he couldn’t leave the smaller robots unattended for too long – the damage and destruction from the smaller robots could add up. The large robots seemed to tower the tallest buildings in the area, while the small robots were the humanoid sized. Maybe the smaller robots would be easier? Some of the smaller robots fired some sort of laser projectile, while the larger robots dealt damage from the sheer size of their limbs swinging across buildings.

Danny always tried to minimize property damage while fighting ghosts in Amity Park - he knew it would cost a lot to repair damages from ghost fights, and hoped that the skeptical few would warm up to him as well. How much of that logic applied here though? Danny probably could have made himself intangible and let the bomb explode right on the street - but was this place /really/ empty? Was that a chance worth taking?

There must have been 50 of the smaller robots, chipping away at the infrastructure of the buildings. They didn’t seem to pay him any attention. Were they not smart enough to chase after a target, or did he need to grab their attention? He needed to destroy the robots either way. Danny grabbed one of the small robots by the head - one of the ones with laser projectiles - and flew onwards. He aimed, so that the lasers from the captive robot would fire upon the other smaller robots. The damage from the lasers didn’t significantly destroy the metallic exoskeleton of the robots, but it did stop them in their tracks - perhaps shorting out the circuitry by firing on the exposed joints.

Having their companions destroyed in rapid fire destruction attracted the attention of the remaining small robots towards Danny. Perhaps they had some hive mind intelligence programmed into them? Tucker would know more about how to take advantage of that. If only Tucker were here, Danny mused. With the small robots’ attention on himself, Danny flew around and led them all to one of the big robots, landing squarely on its head.

The smaller robots attacked the base of the big robot, while the big robot stopped aimlessly attacking the building and swung its arms at the horde attacking its feet. Once the big robot had taken care of the smaller robots, Danny aimed an ecto-blast from his fist into an exposed joint on the robot’s machinery. With a robot this size, one blast might not be enough - Danny flew down and aimed at its knee joints and elbow joints as well, crippling the monster from further damaging the building.

How much time was even left on the clock? How many points did he score? Was it enough? Danny thought back to the first robots he encountered, the ones that looked almost like they could’ve been robbers but had a bomb in their stash. Why did they do that? Danny retraced his steps - or, his flight path - back to the entrance, and found the scene of the first explosion. It was a bank, as Danny suspected. He went inside to investigate.

“Well, this technically is an opportunity to award rescue points,” the Detective noted, “Those first robots were the only ones that behaved differently from all other robots encountered so far,”. The detective would have done the same if he were in Danny’s shoes, investigate why one scenario did not follow like the rest.

“Well, you can’t have like a 100 robots attack just one kid, you have to stagger it out,” Eraserhead pointed out. It was part of the modification Present Mic and the Principal made to the test to accommodate its lone examinee. He wasn’t sure what the kid would find inside the bank, or if there was anything worth looking for there. “He could be wasting his time when he should be trying to collect more points,”

“He technically scored more than enough points here to balance his written exam score and be admitted into the school,” the Principal pointed out.

“Huh, might as well get started on his transfer paperwork now then,” Eraserhead mused. He turned to leave the control room, intending to go to the Principal’s office to get a head start on the paperwork. It would be a pain to let it pile up later.

“Thanks Aizawa. Can we place him in your class while we’re at it?”

“Yeah, I was planning on doing that anyway. Easier to keep an eye on him and all,”

Once Aizawa closed the doors, everyone turned their attention back towards Danny’s progress on the exam.

Inside the bank, Danny couldn’t see much beyond the smoke. Tiny fires provided some light, helping Danny make out the layout and rubble of the bank; the ghostly green glow of his eyes also provided some light. There weren’t any hurt people here - there weren’t any people at all here, actually, but would there be people in this exercise test scenario? Most of the damage was from the far back, presumably where there was a vault of valuables. Then, where had the bombs come from?

If Danny’s hypothesis was correct, there were more bombs inside the bank - who knows how many and when they’ll detonate? It was already a while since the first bomb detonated - assuming there were more bombs here, and they already detonated, Danny could just be wasting his time. He already came this far, he might as well check. Danny learned his hypothesis was indeed correct. A myriad of bombs of all sizes were clustered together in the middle of the vault.

“One variation of the modified entrance exam had the examinee rescue a hostage from a bomb,” the Principal mused from the control room, observing Danny’s discovery in the bank, “But we scrapped that idea; it was even more extreme than the provisional license exam!”

The bombs didn’t go off yet, but there must have been some sort of proximity alarm - the clocks started ticking the moment Danny entered the room. Danny noticed that the clocks had different ticking speeds, and started at different times. He had at least 5 minutes before the first bomb would detonate, igniting the rest prematurely.

The bombs were all laid out on a tarp - as if they were carried here, or as if to not touch the floor of the vault. Danny acknowledged, but didn’t linger on, how convenient that was. He used the tarp to tie up all the bombs into a single carryable tote, turned intangible, and flew skyward. High in the sky and tote of bombs in hand, Danny threw them even higher, and fired an ecto blast at them. He expected a giant explosion that would knock him backwards, but this explosion, from a collection of bombs, was smaller than the single bomb that detonated at the beginning of this exam. How?

The buzzer chimed, signalling the end of the exam. Danny knew he got most of the smaller robots, and one big robot. He inwardly cursed; he knew he missed at least 2 big robots because he went to investigate the bank bombs. Did he really take too much time dealing with the bombs? Danny could have sworn he budgeted most of the exam time on the robots, but was it enough? He didn’t even know how many points he scored.

“Please proceed to the arena’s exit for your raw score and debriefing.” A robotic voice chimed from above. Not Present Mic’s voice?

Danny did as he was instructed, detransforming once he reached the door that led to a private reception area. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the architecture decisions that went into building this place. A little ahead from where he entered, he saw a billboard with his name, along with a breakdown of how many robots he destroyed and how many points each one was worth. Supposedly, he scored 79 points from beating the robots. How many points was he supposed to score to pass? How many points was this out of?

“Congraaaaatulations!” Danny heard the voice of the enigmatic announcer from earlier. It sounded just as loud without the mic. It was Present Mic’s voice alright. Danny turned around and saw a man with extremely gelled blond hair and a black suit with a crazy collar and yellow accents. Behind the man was Detective Tsukauchi - this time, the detective looked at Danny with a hint of admiration, instead of the caution he carried himself with during their first few meetings. Danny himself felt lighter, feeling proud of himself for passing the exam after all.

“T-Thank you,” Danny responded.

“I normally sit around the announcer’s box for the entire exam, but I had to come down and see the kid who scored the highest villain points in this year's exam - even if it was as a transfer exam!” Wait, wha-?

“Since you technically don’t have a permanent address, the your UA admission process will be expedited so that you can move into the dorms soon,” The detective interrupted, “The principal will walk you through that process, he's also aware of your circumstances.”

“About the exam! Why-”

“The principal will explain that! Let’s get you settled and enrolled first!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay in getting this chapter out :0  
> My goal was to get this fic done by the time season 4 of BNHA aired, but it might not work out because 1) this fic is getting longer than I thought it would be, and 2) I'm slow to write and update. Well, let's see how far this fic gets when season 4 airs. 
> 
> There were a couple different ways this entrance exam could have been structured but ultimately I went with what's been written up here. The 'exam' can't be what second years and beyond are 'tested' on either. 
> 
> This is the longest ch of the fic so far (2.7 K words) hopefully later ch are as long or longer :)
> 
> If you've made it this far, whether you're a new reader or a returning one, please leave a comment! And Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

This was the first time in recent memory that Danny passed an exam on his first try. Ok, it wasn’t the pen and paper part of the exam, but it still counted. It helped that his opponents weren’t sentient, or ghosts that could fight back.

He was told to wait in a numbered office room in the nearby building, for the Principal to help him sort through the logistics now that his transfer was officially sanctioned. He didn’t have to wait long. He thought Eraserhead would also come - it was his idea to do this whole thing anyway - but instead, a tiny mousey bear with a scar on one eye walked in.

“Hello, you must be Danny,” The mouse-bear spoke. The bear spoke?! Again, after seeing a lady embiggen herself and a sentient tree trunk, this should be no surprise.

“Yeahh, I am,” Danny responded, keeping his composure. “Nice to meet you, Mr... ?”

“Ah, you can call me Nezu. I’m the principal of UA High. I’m here to help you finish registering to UA, since you’ve officially passed the test!”

“Thank you, I hope the paperwork won’t take too long, I imagine it’s a lot”

“No it’s not! Aizawa filled out a bunch of it during your exam so there isn’t a whole lot left for you to fill in!” The bear responded cheerfully.

“...Really? That’s pretty nice of him...” Who was Aizawa?

“What paperwork is there left for me to do?”

“Just some meal plan options, and any allergens. We can get your latest health records from when you were in the hospital a few days ago. It is lacking in historical data - but that’s not a huge problem. Given your situation, I imagine you don’t have a whole lot of spare clothes on you do you?”

“No, I don’t,”

“Your dorm room should have a pajama set and some spare clothing, but I am scheduled to show you around the local shopping district and help you purchase any necessities that won’t already be provided by the school.”

Hearing that was an almost relief for Danny. He hadn’t showered in days and he was sure his clothes stank - even if he couldn’t smell it. “T-Thank you, that’s really helpful!” Danny responded. His short term problems would be solved, but he wondered how he would make progress towards his long term goal of eventually going home.

“Um...sir. There’s something I need to ask,” Danny began. “I appreciate everything you’re doing to help me settle in, but...my long term goal is to find my way home. And home is...not anywhere near here. Like I told the others, my home is in another dimension. How long... do you think that could take?” Danny was afraid he already knew the answer, if they were going through all this trouble to give him a dorm room and enroll him in school.

“We don’t have an exact estimate of how long it could take, but perhaps it could be faster than you think,” the bear explained. “A team of scientists have been developing an apparatus for faster than light travel with potential for interdimensional travel, which could help you return to your world as well. Field tests are scheduled within the next few weeks.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” Dann, letting go of a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He wasn’t sure if he should feel happy or not, though. It was almost too good to be true.

Danny looked over the paperwork - the blanks that he had to fill out with options and signatures were helpfully highlighted for him. There were some waivers too, though. A quick glance at the waiver forms didn’t alarm Danny (photography, combat practice, etc), so he signed them quickly. The last one caught his eye.

“I’m guessing the non disclosure agreement is not a standard form for student admissions, huh?”

“You’re right it isn’t,” the principal responded, “There’s too much we don’t know about your situation. Making anything public would cause unnecessary media attention. For all intents and purposes, you took the UA high transfer exam after recently moving into the neighborhood. Your parents are scientists who live abroad so you don’t get to see them for a while. Do you think you can maintain this cover story while at school? A couple teachers are on a need to know basis.”

“Keeping secrets? I can do that.”  _It’s what I’m good at_. “Alright, what’s next?”

“Now, let’s get some supplies, young man.”

Danny and the little bear walked out of the building, only to find a car with a chauffeur waiting for them right outside. A short drive later, and the two were dropped off to the nearest shopping complex, which seemed to have a store of every type.

“We have a few hours to get the supplies on this list - we can get anything extra you may need as well though. After that, you’ll need to get to the dorm and find your room, and get acquainted with the tenants of the building.”

In the next few hours, the two of them walked in and out of all manners of stores, purchasing things from clothes, toiletries, stationary, and books.

“This almost seems too good to be true,” Danny said in one shop, “Yesterday I didn’t have anything to brush my teeth, and today I’m picking out a flavor of toothpaste to use. Thank you for everything, really. But why?”

“Oh no problem child, and why not?”

“What I mean is... passing the test is what’s letting me go to this school and stay in the dorms, which is definitely better than being homeless. But why was I even allowed to take the test? Is the test allowed to be taken by just anyone?”  _Why not throw me in juvenile prison, or rip me apart molecule by molecule_  was what Danny was afraid of saying out loud.

“Danny,” Nezu started thoughtfully, “I am first and foremost an educator. Upon finding out a high school aged child was homeless and not enrolled in school, how could I not? At the very least, you deserve a chance.”

“Then, what would have happened to me if I didn’t pass the entrance exam?”

“We would have enrolled you in a quirk protection program and placed you under the foster care of a Pro Hero or a well vetted caretaker. After finding out about your situation, we would have done the best to improve your situation, at the very least. You’re technically enrolled in a quirk protection program even now - your exam results are what provide a public justification for you transferring to UA and living in the dorms”

“I see...” Danny responded. “Speaking of which, can you explain the practical test score results? How many point was it out of?” Danny asked, thinking back to what one of the exam proctors said to him before his meeting with the bear.

“Well the part that’s explained to all examinees before the test is how many points each robot villain is worth - ‘Villain points’. What this does is encourage students to attack only the larger valued robots and leave the small ones alone. Any effort to save other examinees or reduce property damage is awarded ‘Rescue points’ as well. A combination of Villain points and Rescue points makes up your raw score. Any other point rewards or deductions added to your raw score, at the proctors’ discretion, is what makes up your total score. Your total score was calculated fairly fast since you were the only examinee - you can see your exact point breakdowns later if you’d like.”

“Ah, yeah, I would, if you wouldn’t mind.” Danny responded, “Thanks.” Danny paused and reflected silently.

“One more thing: can you let me know when that faster than light travel, experiment, thing, has its first field test? Even if I can’t use it to get home immediately, I’d like to watch.”

“No promises yet, but I’ll see what I can arrange when that time comes,” Nezu nodded in agreement.

The two finished purchasing the rest of the items on their shopping list, and returned to the entrance of the mall. The same car that drove them earlier was waiting to drive them to the school. A short car drive later, Danny could see the sign display ‘UA Heights Alliance’ proudly at the entrance of the dorm complex. It definitely looked high class and new, not old and dilapidated like the pictures of college dorm rooms that Jazz kept researching.

Bags in hand, Danny walked towards the entrance of the dorm building, Nezu just a few paces behind. It was pretty late in the day, and Danny was sure most students would be out of class. He hoped he could sneak into his room and sleep without meeting too many at once...But it was like his new classmates were waiting in front of the door of the common area for him to come.

“You must be the new guy Aizawa sensei was telling us about!”

“A guy, huh? I was hoping for a cute girl since Danny seemed to be gender neutral nickname in some countries,”

“Wow what’s your quirk?”

“Who’s your favorite pro hero!”

He was swarmed – people his age, invading his personal bubble. He put his hands up in front of him, trying to protect what little personal space he had left. He was a nobody at his old high school – to suddenly be a somebody, even if for a short time, was a little too sudden.

A guy with glasses and bulky biceps interrupted everyone’s fanfare. “Give him some space everyone! He just got here!” That’s right, Danny did just get here, and he had to try and make his best first impression. Is this how college roommates feel when they meet each other for the first time?

“News spreads fast, huh?” Nezu said as he came up from behind. “Aizawa sensei probably already told you in class today, but our new transfer student is Danny Fenton, and will join you all in school starting tomorrow.”

The glasses guy came to restore order again. “Everyone! It’s late and we all have homework! We’ll get to see his quirk sometime later, during training or combat practice or something,” For some reason he moved his arms as if he was a robot or something.

“I’ll be heading back Danny, but make yourself at home. Here’s your room key, and I’ve brought the rest of your supplies to the lobby.” Nezu said. “Don’t stay up too late, there’s some orientation paperwork in your room that you should find helpful as well. Be sure to read it before coming to school tomorrow” He turned around, and left out the door.

“Oh, at the very least let me help you carry your things to your dorm room,” a green haired kid offered. Several other students, eager to get to know the new kid, also offered their help. It took only a single trip from lobby to room to transfer all his things.

“Thanks for the help, everyone.” Danny said gratefully. He wondered if anyone would point out that all his things were in shopping bags, instead of suitcases or boxes.   
  
“If you haven’t had anything to eat yet, there’s leftover curry in the kitchen downstairs. Be sure to try some!” the green haired kid said. “See you in class tomorrow!” The students all eventually piled out of his room, to give him space and privacy.

Danny started unpacking his stuff and arranging it around his room. He should get to shower and reading that orientation paperwork. Thank goodness he had no roommates; between the police interrogation, the entrance exam, and shopping with the principal, it felt like he was being supervised at every second of the day. He finally had a private moment to himself to just, breath.

He reached into his pocket, and sure enough, his Fenton-Find-A-Ghost was still with him. Thank goodness they let him keep it after the police interrogation. It was the last thing he had from home. He wondered if they would ask for it back to investigate again? It seemed like they stopped treating him like a criminal and started treated him like a kid...for now. He took another picture to post on his feed.

___________________________________

Principal Nezu, meanwhile, returned to the teacher’s lounge instead of his office. Eraserhead was waiting for him there.

“So, how was your field trip? I couldn’t hear much of what you talked but I was on standby in case he ran away,” Aizawa asked. This was a fairly unique case for UA - couldn’t have a kid run away with a UA credit card.

“He really is just a good kid,” Nezu responded. “Quiet. Homesick. Doubts himself. He wouldn’t have run away, but he would've been lost without someone showing him the way around the mall too..”

“It’s the quiet ones you gotta watch out for. I know because I’m a quiet one.”

“Don’t be too harsh on him, Aizawa. He’s just a kid with more power than he knows what to do with and in need of guidance...”

“We all have to be careful. With the power that Kamui Woods and Mount Lady saw him display, he could be the greatest hero - or the greatest villain - that the world has ever seen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, real life is Hard, so thanks for sticking around and reading this if you're still here! I haven't been able to keep an update schedule, sadly.
> 
> I read all your comments! There were a few I've been meaning to reply to that I didn't get around to, but your comments really make my day! 
> 
> Enjoy a Mouse and his Boy
> 
> ps. I've updated the naming scheme of the previous chapters - no need to name each chapter, let's just stick with numbers for now


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter mentions a character's name and references an event that happens in the last episode of season 3 (of MHA, not DP lol). It's almost "blink and you'll miss it" moment. We aren't deep in manga only territory yet. We probably won't be, for a few chapters (I'll post a warning when we do get there)

Danny woke sluggishly, to the sound of someone knocking his door.

“5 more minutes Jazz,” Danny responded sleepily.

“Jazz?” an unfamiliar voice responded. Danny peeled his eyes open, realizing he wasn’t sleeping in his bedroom. He looked around to process his surroundings, then remembered everything that happened the past week – his encounter with ‘heroes’, his arrest, and his eventual transfer to UA. Given all that happened, Danny was surprised at how soundly he slept.

Danny got up and opened the door. It was the glasses kid from yesterday, in pajamas. “Good morning Danny! As UA Students we need to rise bright and early to make it to school on time! I wasn’t sure you were awake, I just came to check on you!”

Danny yawned in response. “Well, I’m awake now. You have too much energy in the morning, I could totally sleep for another hour,” Danny rubbed his eyes sluggishly.

“Well, school starts in an hour! If you want the kitchen to make a healthy and complete breakfast, you have to go now!” School? Oh yeah, he was in school somehow. He turned around, locating his backpack, package of textbooks, and orientation papers. Orientation papers?! Shit! He didn’t finish going through the introductory packets! 

His eyes widened with realization, thankful for the glassed kid for thinking to check on him as early as he did. “Thanks for the wakeup call! I just realized I didn’t even finish my orientation stuff last night!” Danny was slightly panicking. “Oh Jeez, how bad is it if I don’t finish reading through it all?”

“That’s terrible! As UA students, we must be on top of our academic work at all times! Tardiness is inexcusable! Today it’s homework, but tomorrow it could be a villain!” He emphasized his words with the robotic motion of his hands.

“Damn, so it really is a big deal,” Danny pondered anxiously. “Ah, OK, I did a huge chunk of it yesterday, so maybe I can reasonably finish the reading that’s left. There’s nothing to turn in at least so that helps a little,” If Danny could brush his teeth, comb his hair and wear his clothes in 10 minutes and skip breakfast, he could get 40 minutes of uninterrupted time to go over his neglected work, followed by the 10-minute walk to school.

The introductory packets were given to all new students, and normally took an hour to get through - from school rules, a list of teachers who worked there, a list of famous alumni, and other accolades, Danny wasn’t sure how much he could read in 40 minutes, let alone understand.

Unfortunately, Danny spent about 45 minutes reading his packets before realizing he was going to be late to school. And on his first day?

There was only one way Danny would make it to school on time. That glasses kid DID say everyone would see his quirk eventually – so no harm right? “I’m Going Ghost!” Danny exclaimed to no one in particular. White rings enveloped his top and bottom half, transforming him to his ghostly alter ego. Danny was incredibly thankful Eraserhead’s nullification power was only temporary.

Danny flew as fast as he could towards the main school building. He flew invisibly, slipping through doors and staircases to get to his destination. He used his intangibility to undo a few wrong turns, but stuck mostly to his invisibility . The only power Danny was fairly confident in was his ability to fly; it was the first power he discovered and what let him stand on equal footing with ghostly enemies in Amity Park.

Danny flew through the halls of UA, before arriving in front of the principal’s office room. He couldn’t see anyone around in the hall watching, but he was sure there were cameras around that would catch him detransform. If the administration knew about his Quirk, that technically didn’t matter, right? No time to think about it. With no one in sight, Danny detransformed in front of the principal’s office and knocked on the door, barely 30 seconds to spare. His knock was responded with a friendly “Come in!”, and Danny complied.

“Hello again sir,” Danny greeted while walking in. “I hope I’m not too late,”

“Oh you’re actually just on time,” Principal Nezu responded. “You’ll join your classmates from the 3rd period onwards, I needed to give you a tour of the most important facilities of this building first,” That information was probably the part of the introductory packet that Danny skimmed over.

“Ah, OK,”

The mouse bear hopped down from his desk and walked out the room, with Danny in tow. Together, the two visited the school cafeteria, the Support department, the General Studies department, the library, the garden, and the Nurses Office.

“Your class is scheduled to have combat practice today, so you’ll see the training grounds with them.” The principal explained at the end of the brief tour. The self-sustaining nature of the school impressed Danny – it reminded him of University towns that Jazz kept talking about. They stopped in front of a large door, presumably the front of his classroom, “Well, here is where your tour ends and your education will begin – how do you feel Danny?”

“Nervous,” Danny replied, “though that’s probably to be expected? Homesick. And also hoping I don’t make things awkward.”

“You’ll be just fine, Danny.”

Danny opened the door, and ready to meet faces both old and new – only to see an unpleasantly familiar face. Long dark hair, dark eye bags – the goggles and tape scarf were immediately recognizable though.

“E-Eraserhead?!” Danny said in a low, incredulous voice. The guy who arrested him was his homeroom teacher. Awkward. Was this in the information he skimmed over in his introductory packets?

“Yes, I’m the homeroom teacher of Class 1A – though, my students call my Aizawa-sensei. Why don’t you introduce yourself?” Danny could hear his smirk through each word. Aizawa was the name of the UA teacher who filled out much of Danny’s transfer paperwork during his exam – but Danny didn’t realize Aizawa and Eraserhead were the same person. It just seemed so weird that the guy who arrested him also made it easier for him to transfer into school. Was this that guy’s way of apologizing?

Danny composed himself as best he could, before turning to his classmates. “Hi everyone, my name is Danny Fenton. Some of you may have seen me move into the dorms last night. It’s nice to properly meet you all,”. Nope he still sounded super awkward and embarrassing. 

“Have a seat, let’s continue class.” 

Danny didn’t consider himself stupid, but he sure felt as much during class. The math and science was definitely familiar material from back home – he was never good at it back then either. But the literature was completely out of his scope of reference. He’d never so much as heard of the classical authors and writings that his classmates had read years ago. Maybe he shouldn’t bother, given how this subject was irrelevant to material back home. Maybe if Danny could focus on improving his math and science skills – which seemed somewhat universal – he could get something positive out of being in a school where his credits didn’t transfer over. Jazz would probably have a lot of fun reading all this literature though. Danny was surprised at how much he missed Jazz today - more than anyone, she nags him and fusses over the smallest things.

Instead of gym class, the students had scheduled trainings and combat practice. Everyone got out their hero costumes from their lockers before heading to the training grounds, Danny noted. He picked up his gym uniform and followed his classmates to the training grounds.

The training ground was not a gym; it seemed to be some arena like area called ‘Ground Beta’. Instead of workout equipment, there were rock and cliff formations. It didn’t simulate the city terrain, Danny noted, but it provided a messy grounds for battle practice and could potentially minimize property damage. He saw students go in their own direction, practicing their offensive techniques on the rock formations. Danny wasn’t entirely sure what he should be doing, until Aizawa came behind him.

“Where’s the hero costume you wore for the entrance exam?” Aizawa asked Danny.

“Oh, that? I kinda just ‘go ghost’ when I need it. You know, with my pow- with my quirk.” To demonstrate, Danny summoned the energy that drew two halos across his body, replacing his gym clothes with his black and white jumpsuit, and turning his hair a phantom white. A ghostly aura enveloped his skin as well. It should be okay to “use his quirk” here, given that everyone else was, too. 

Aizawa couldn’t help but pause in awe. Personally, Eraserheads hero costume was nondescript so that he could wear it with or underneath everyday clothes. The ability to switch into a hero costume like that instantaneously was a huge advantage to responding quickly to a crisis. Also, it was just cool to watch. Aizawa gathered himself before resuming his instructions to Danny.

“Most of the time the students do self-training for their quirks based on strengths and weaknesses assessed by teachers. Since you haven’t had that feedback yet, we thought the best way for you to practice would be to spar with someone experienced.” Eraserhead informed Danny.

“Spar with…you?”

“No, not me. Today, you’ll be sparring with the pro hero Ectoplasm. He’s aware of your circumstances, and your abilities. We thought he would be best suited to understand the nature of your power.” 

Speak of the devil, and Danny’s ghost sense activated. Weaker than usual, but he felt the familiar chill and the escape of a foggy breath. Behind him came a man with a helmet and long trench coat that covered most of his body. 

“You mentioned that your D.N.A. was infused with ectoplasm. I can kinda relate I guess - I have an ectoplasm producing organ that is the source of my quirk, after all. Organic ectoplasm is really versatile! I’m Ectoplasm, nice to meet you Danny! Shall we begin?” 

The two stood about ten feet apart, standing in combat ready positions, until Eraserhead gave the signal for combat to start. Before Danny could even blink, four clones of his opponent suddenly stared back at him, with a trail of something - barf? - coming out of his opponents’ mouth.

“The ectoplasm I expel from my mouth lets me create clones of myself!” One of the clones shouted. Definitely a ghost power, one Danny had seen Vlad use a lot. The clones rushed in several at a time. Danny floated a few feet, giving him the advantage of height. To his surprise, none of his attackers flew up after him. 

Instead, they used each other’s help to propel themselves upwards, using the momentum to attempt landing some punches on Danny. Danny tried to keep his distance, launching ecto blasts to the ones on the floor. They moved fast - each of Danny’s attacks landed a few feet away from its intended target, leaving light scorch marks on the flooring. One of the clones jumped up behind Danny, grabbing his left leg and attempting to bring Danny back to the ground. Instead, Danny slowed to a descent with the weight, like a balloon slowly losing helium. 

Using his free leg, Danny kicked out the clone that was hanging off him, and once again floated upwards to keep his distance from the enemies. He launched an ectoblast from his hands, hitting that clone he just kicked away. The clone was hit on the leg, an abrasive wound showing where the ectoplasm hit. “I almost fell for that - hook, line, and sinker!” Danny quipped. 

The wound didn’t seem to phase the clone though; it resumed some attack formation with the rest. Danny continuously launched ectoblasts at the clones, missing some, hitting some. None of them dissipated from his attacks; those clones must be fairly hardy. When any of them got close enough, Danny responded with an ecto-powered punch to the gut. “Wow, hit the gym a lot guys? How many clones does your gym membership cover?” 

Several ectoblasts and punches later, Danny’s breathing became visibly heavier. The clones stopped going on the offensive, and they all stood in front of Danny as if waiting for Danny’s own attack. Danny wiped the sweat off his brow, and prepared to launch an offensive attack of his own. Before he could, the surprise of a blow to his back caused Danny to fall face flat to the ground. He was pinned to the ground, both his hands held tightly behind his back.

“Who-?” Of course, it was the original. When the fight initially started, Ectoplasm created four clones and spectated off to the side. The spar was between Danny and Ectoplasm, so it was naive to assume that the original would standby and let his clones do all the fighting. So, did none of the clones triggered his ghost sense? 

“You lasted fairly long! We could end this match and try again later, or do you want to keep going?”

“I think you lasted pretty long, yourself! Don’t underestimate me!” 

He summoned an ectoblast from both his hands - the sudden burst of energy from his palms surprised his captor into letting go. Now free, Danny scrambled to his feet, and took a few steps back, making sure that Ectoplasm and all his clones were easily within his line of sight. With each breath, Danny shifted his focus to each clone, looking for the one that had the most damage. He saw one, the one farthest to the left and farthest away from the original, that seemed to have the most ectoplasmic abrasions on its shoulders and legs. 

Singling out that one clone, Danny charged towards him, landing a solid ectoplasmic punch to the gut. The clone dissipated.

“One down, -” Danny surveyed the remaining clones and their Original host. The clones were all battle worn, Danny could probably take them out one at a time. “Three to go,” But the Original host of the clones had barely a scratch. “And then the original Ectoplasm too,” he added. Seeing the rubble from their attacks gave Danny an idea.

The size of the rubble was big, big enough to do damage, but small enough for Danny to be able to carry. He picked a large boulder and hurled it towards one of the Ectoplasm clones. As it soared in the sky, Danny launched an ectoblast, shattering the boulder while it was on top of one of the Ectoplasms - it made no move to avoid the boulder, probably because it assumed an easy dodge. Shattering the boulder in the air gave way to a rain of dust and rubble; all the Ectoplasms closed their eyes. Perfect. 

Danny launched a powerful ectoblast at the nearest clone, causing it to disintegrate. 

“Two down, gotta catch em all!” That same trick probably won’t work twice now. 

“Nice idea to use your environment like that,” his opponent responds back. “Though if I were a Pokemon, which one would I be?” 

Two of the Ectoplasms lock hands, and one spins around on his feet. A few spins later and the other clone is launched in the air, headed straight for Danny. Danny didn’t dodge fast enough, and the launched clone easily pins him down.

“Do pokemon make clones of themselves, though? Not that I can remember.”Danny struggles to get up, but either Ectoplasm is pretty heavy or Danny is too tired to escape.

“Alright, that’s the end of the match, the winner is Ectoplasm,” Eraserhead declares. 

“Hey.” Danny said while heaving heavily, “I. Can.” heavy breaths. “Keep going.” More heaves. Not very convincing. Danny was too tired to even come up with a proper quip anymore. 

“Unlike the entrance exam, the objective today isn’t to /win/, it’s to find your strengths and weaknesses, and improve both.” Eraserhead responded, “It’s called training.” 

“All right, all right,” Danny paused to catch his breath, “So what do we do after training?” 

“We assess. Danny, what kind of fighter do you think Ectoplasm is? How would you describe him?”

“Well, the obvious is that he can make clones. The clones seemed fairly powerful and intelligent - in that they were able to work together for a common cause. They were able to land some solid blows, too. It seems four clones is the limit?”

“Not bad, Danny. Except, I can actually make 30 clones at once. 36, if I eat a healthy breakfast.”

“Wait, what?!” Danny was /pretty/ sure Vlad could only do four or five. 

“The fewer clones I make, the stronger I can make them, though.” Does that mean Vlad has always been capable of making more than four clones, too?

“Does that make them smarter, too? They seemed to cooperate wordlessly, as if they could communicate telepathically. Can they?”

“They can, but that’s not limited to smaller numbers of clones. I can do that no matter how many clones I make, actually.” Ectoplasm was impressed, Danny was not bad at surveying his opponents. “All good observations on your part, young Danny. I was holding back to assess your skills, but also so that we don’t encroach on the other students’ space.”

Other students? Danny turned around, and noticed a small audience. Some students who were training nearby turned around to watch when they heard Eraserhead talking. How many of them had seen that whole match? He wasn’t used to people watching him fight, other than Sam, Tucker, and maybe a couple bystanders. Danny turned his attention back to Ectoplasm, to ask the question that he’d had on his mind since their fight began.

“Your clones weren’t flying or shooting any ectoplasm. Neither were you. Was that also holding back?”

“Technically, no.” Eraserhead answered thoughtfully. “I didn’t do any of that because I can’t. I don’t have those quirks. Though I do have an ultimate move where I slug ectoplasm from my mouth, it doesn’t quite look like your attacks.” 

“I thought if you could make ectoplasm within your body, you’d have the same powers as me.”

“But you can’t clone yourself,” Ectoplasm pointed out. 

“I...well...”

“....Can you?”

“...I...tried it once? It wasn’t...great...though.” Making clones of himself was not a power he regularly used anyway. 

“Interesting, maybe we have different strains of Ectoplasm between the two of us? Something worth looking into.” Ectoplasm thought out loud. 

“Given that you can fly, shoot powerful ectoplasm from your arms, turn invisible, turn intangible, and - allegedly, also make clones - you have a lot of different abilities. It doesn’t look like you always use them. How come?”

Danny totally forgot about intangibility and invisibility during their fight. Since most of his opponents at Amity Park were also ghosts capable of invisibility and intangibility, he didn’t always rely on those abilities in a fight. Eraserhead did say Ectoplasm knew of Danny’s abilities and circumstances, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Pro Hero knew of Danny’s other abilities, even when he didn’t use them during the fight. 

“I think...in the heat of the moment I sometimes forget. Invisibility and intangibility are hard to do at the same time, though I CAN do them at the same time. I just have to...think? concentrate? hard enough. But in a battle I guess I’m trying to think fast. And I don’t have a lot of practice making clones either, it takes a while and clones don’t always come out in a battle ready condition.”

“I can definitely tell you need practice - you have terrible aim, and you’re not good at close range combat. You seemed to prefer midrange combat.”

“I don’t think I even made it to a yellow belt in karate.” 

“If you train the fundamentals, your skill with your powers will get better. Everyone here has what it takes to be great hero - there are quirks we’ve never seen before, but that doesn’t mean we can’t figure out a training regimen for them. It just makes us all the more creative with how to use our quirks on the front line. If you ask me, empirical observation and daily practice are the two most important keys to be a successful hero. ” 

Danny couldn’t help but think back to Vlad’s promises. “Come with me, Daniel. I could train you. I’m the only one who understands you, because I have the same powers as you,” He’d hear often. He’d rejected the fruit loop on principle, but that didn’t change the fact that Danny sometimes felt like he needed someone to train with, or someone to help him train - the Box Ghost didn’t really count as training. Here, he might have found the right people. 

“Yes, thank you, sir,” 

“You can call me Ectoplasm-sensei! Oh pardon me, I need to get on time for my student’s next period.”  
___________________

“Oh man, that was so cool,” 

Midoriya was furiously taking notes on Danny’s spar with Ectoplasm. Ectoplasm was definitely holding back. Ectoplasm had a lot more experience over Danny, but Danny’s wide range of abilities had so many applications. So many. Search and rescue. Reconnaissance. Scouting. Wouldn’t this make Danny’s ghost quirk even more capable of being a Symbol of Peace than One for All? What were its weaknesses, if any? Ugh, he couldn’t hear much of what they were saying. 

Just then, Midoriya noticed Danny transform, his black jumpsuit being replaced by the UA gym uniform, phantom white hair reverting to raven black. “Noticed” was too subtle; Midoriya was staring, mouth agape in awe. Danny could switch into and out of his hero costume in seconds! But Danny seemed even more tired after switching back. Midoriya wouldn’t be surprised if it took Danny a lot of energy to maintain the form, summon those energy blasts, or fight in general. Maybe, Danny’s weakness was his low stamina. 

After combat practice they just returned to class. Seriously? Talk about whiplash. And just like the first half of the day, Danny had difficulty finding an academic subject he was good at. He skipped the cafeteria during lunch time. He wasn’t in the mood for seeing his probably smarter classmates outside the classroom. Danny settled for munching on chips he got from a vending machine outside. He used his intangibility to swipe his snacks, but made a note to pay $1 back to the principal as soon as he could. 

It wasn’t until after all classes were over for the day that Danny had a chance to properly talk to his other classmates. A couple of them came over to walk beside him on their way back to the dorms. 

“Hey wait up! I have a few questions about your quirk! It’s so cool!” A recognizable green haired kid had a notebook and pencil in hand.

“Wait, is this for like a school newspaper or something? I don’t-”

“Oh no no this just for my hero analysis book. It’s my passion project. Kinda like a diary, if you will?”

“Ease up, Deku! Don’t scare the new guy too much!” a girl behind them said. “Besides, we all know his name, but he probably doesn’t know any of ours. We should introduce ourselves before dinner!” 

“Oh you’re right, how rude of me I’m so sorry I didn’t think about that! When I’m talking about heroes and quirks I sometimes forget my manners! I’m Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you!” The boy extended his hand out awkwardly for Danny to shake. His demeanor looked very nerd like, and Danny wondered if the guy was ever bullied for it.

“And I’m Ochaco Uraraka, by the way!” the friendly girl supplied. 

“Nice to officially meet you both.” Danny smiled and returned both their handshakes, hopefully not awkwardly. “So, what do you all usually do in the dorms right after class?” 

Of course the new guy is more focused on making it through the day and getting used to a routine instead of gloating in his quirk, Midoriya thought. He put his hero analysis notebook away in his bag. The new guy seemed kinda uncomfortable throughout the day; he should put his fanboy mode away for now and help Danny get acquainted with the people and places around campus first.

“So, we usually use the rest of the day to tackle homework, studying, or any extra training. Sometimes in groups, sometimes solo, depending on who’s available or what people need to do. Sometimes we might work together to cook something, but you can just as easily find something to eat from the cafeteria next door, too.” Izuku answered. Sounds like a fairly standard way to spend time after the school day.

“Training? Like the combat practice in the training area earlier today?” 

“No, more like, standard physical training? Weights, cardio, whatever? We can’t be out of the dorms past curfew.” Izuku looked a little sheepish. “I broke curfew once and was on house arrest for a few days. So, it’s not a good idea.”

“Ouch,” Danny responded sympathetically.

“It wasn’t that bad actually. I just had to do all the chores and cleaning in the dorms during that time. Nothing I couldn’t handle, but I felt like I was being left behind. I was that much behind everyone you know?”

The three of them were one of the first to arrive in the dorms. Each changed out of their uniforms into casual clothing, and returned to the student lounge. Izuku was on the table, already working on the homework assigned that day. Maybe he was a good person to ask for homework help? 

But by then, more classmates had piled into the building, and all of them wanted to know about the new guy.

It was then that Danny finally learned the names of all his classmates, and their quirks. They were bombarding him with questions first; it wasn’t until the class president glasses guy - Iida, Danny remembered - suggested that everyone else did their introductions first. Everyone’s quirks were so weird - it wasn’t obvious how they could be applicable to being a “pro hero”, but everyone was training their hardest, that was for sure. Danny noted that they seemed to call each other all by their last name. Danny followed suit, but insisted they all call him by his first name. Being called “Fenton” just reminded him of all the times he was called “Fenturd” or “Fentoenail”. 

“So...what is your quirk exactly?” Kaminari asked. “You didn’t mention it when you joined our class.”

“Oh, it’s hard to explain, but... I call it ‘Ghost’,” Danny responded. It was what he had officially registered as his ‘quirk‘ when he filled the paperwork previously. He can’t believe he forgot to mention something so basic in his self introduction to his classmates. “It’s like...I have the biology of a ghost, so I have ghost powers.” 

“What does that mean?” Midoriya asked, notebook and pencil in hand. 

“Well, you know how ghosts can fly, turn invisible, go through walls, and stuff?” Danny started slowly. A couple people nodded. “Well...I can do all that basically.”

A silence.

“Wait, what?!” Several confused and shocked faces, not sure how to react or what to even say to that. Seemed similar to the reaction he got at the police station a few days ago, only crazier. 

“What about those green blasts you shoot from your hands? And your white hair? How is that related to your quirk?” If Midoriya was as surprised as his classmates, he didn’t show it. 

“Well, it is...” Danny bit his tongue. How much of his power was he supposed to tell the others without breaking his non disclosure agreement with the school? He was explicitly not allowed to talk about the fact that he’s from another dimension, and the fact that he got his ghost powers in a lab accident. Danny reasoned that telling them /what/ his powers were would not break the NDA - they saw him use it in school earlier today, after all. 

“So, my powers come from the fact that ectoplasm is bound to my genes,” Danny resumed, “The ectoplasm is what grants me the same abilities as a ghost, so...I’m kinda...part ghost...” 

“Wow, that must be why you were sparring with Ectoplasm-sensei earlier today!” 

“You’re like a multi quirk hybrid like Todoroki!” 

They liked him. They actually liked him and his powers. They thought he was cool. The police seemed scared of him. Amity Park sometimes loves him, sometimes hates him - depending on who covers the news first. But here, he was...popular? That was one nice change. A comment from Midoriya brought his attention back to the room.

“Your powers are like a combination of Hagakure-san’s, Uraraka-san’s and Mirio-senpai’s! Your green blasts seem similar to Todoroki-kun’s and Kacchan’s fire power though.”

A couple names Danny couldn’t recognize. 

“Hey, who’s ‘Kacchan’ and ‘Mirio-Senpai’?”

A blonde spikey haired classmate, who seemed aloof and further away from the group, scowled. “What the hell, you damn nerd! Quit calling me that!” Danny recognized the blonde from class, but he didn’t introduce himself to Danny like everyone else had. 

“That would be Katsuki Bakugou - whom Midoriya sometimes calls ‘Kacchan’” Kirishima responded with a sly smile. Teasing Bakugou seemed more trouble than it was worth, but that didn’t seem to bother Kirishima at all. 

“Mirio-senpai is a third year. One of the Big Three of our school,” Midoriya continued, “He sparred with our whole class and wiped us out instantly. We had the match a couple days before you joined, so you just missed him. You should spar against him too!” 

“Ah, yeah, sure,” 

They almost missed dinner because of how long they spent giving Danny a tour of the dorms. Dinner was rice and curry made available from the dorm cafeteria - nothing the others thought was fancy, but it tasted fancy to him. In the company of great people and eating great food, Danny had his first full meal since getting lost in the ghost zone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man it's been a while since I've uploaded a chapter. If you're still here, thanks for sticking around! This chapter is my longest yet, and I think it beats my previous longest chapter by about 2K words? I'd have to go back and check to be sure. 
> 
> So Danny's powers are fairly OP - one way I've decided to 'limit' that is by making Danny not as adept at using his powers yet. Ghost form/powers take stamina (though they do grant extra strength), and using invisibility and intangibility at the same time is something he can't yet do. 
> 
> I've given thought about what does and doesn't trigger Danny's ghost sense and heres my current hc (for the context of this fic):  
> 1\. anti ghost weapons or non organic ectoplasm do not trigger the ghost sense  
> 2\. any sentient being with (or produces) organic ectoplasm triggers the ghost sense - ghost sense can vary in strength based on what caused it to trigger. 
> 
> so, Ectoplasm (the pro hero) fits under #2 - he is not a ghost, so the ghost sense is 'weaker'  
> Aesthetically, I think Ectoplasm is a Reuniclus lol 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this fight scene!
> 
> If you're still here, thanks for the comments and kudos!  
> Also, you can reach me here on [tumblr! ](http://mystyrust.tumblr.com/) (I don't do a whole lot there but it is the same username lol)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is briefly transitioning into the next manga only arc (post season 3 of the mha anime) but isn't true spoiler territory yet.

“I hope you’ve made decisions for your internships,”

Huh?

Danny’s second day of school and he was still lost. Everyone seemed to nod to Aizawa-sense’s statement, so Danny was the only one clueless. He was almost embarrassed to ask about internships, given he just transferred; luckily, the homeroom teacher was able to clear up Danny’s confusion.

“Since you’ve just joined our class, Danny, and haven’t had the chance to participate in the sports festival, you won’t be expected to participate in an internship just yet. We can discuss your options after class.”

A sports festival? The school year didn’t start too long ago, but it felt like Danny missed out on a lot. It was almost frustrating.

Just as frustrating as his inability to academically succeed. He could understand some of the class lectures better than yesterday – he probably owed that to having a full night’s sleep for once – but that didn’t change the fact that he was behind.

It was during one study hall period later that day, that Danny finally had the time to go to Eraserhead’s office. He knocked on the door, and walked in once Eraserhead responded affirmatively.

“I’m literally clueless – a sports festival, internships? There’s literally too much I don’t know; it won’t take long before someone realizes I’ve been living under a rock.” Danny spouted. “Or in my case, a literal other dimension,”

“Calm down, kid. You technically passed the academic portion of the entrance exam, but I don’t blame you for feeling that way. I’ll just have to give you a condensed cliff notes on modern history.” Aizawa scratched his chin. Maybe researching standardized test prep books for modern history would be a good start.

“That being said, there’s nothing legally stopping you from applying for internships like your classmates, but your ‘newness’ is definitely a disadvantage. You don’t have any previous connections through work study or the sports festival, so your name won’t stand out among other applicants. Training to improve your stamina and abilities would be the best use of your time, if you ask me.”

“But, what about those guys Kamui Woods or Mt Lady? They’re some of the few heroes I know of and they know where I came from, is it okay for me to intern with them?”

“That’s... not a bad idea actually,” Eraserhead responded thoughtfully. “I’m not sure they’re accepting interns right now, though. In the meantime, you’ll need to continue training. I suggest training towards being able to use your invisibility and intangibility at the same time; you mentioned that doing both together was difficult, but not impossible either.”

“When can I get a chance to practice or train? It seems like we’re in class all day,”

“During any physical combat practice period, or after school hours before curfew. Grounds Alpha through Delta are always open for student practice, as is the school gym.” A pretty obvious sounding answer to a mildly dumb question, but it seemed to click only after it was said out loud. 

“So I have one last thing,’ Danny started, now that his initial doubts about internships were cleared out. “For someone who basically arrested me, you sure made it easy for me to get into school. A pretty good one, too. What’s up with that?”

“What do you mean? Isn’t remedial better than corporal and unjust punishment?” Eraserhead responded, with a smirk in his voice.

“I mean I literally did not know you were the great ‘Aizawa-sensei’ that the principal made you out to be when Eraserhead seemed like an asshole when he interrogated me,”

Aizawa lets out a sound that Danny could only guess was meant to be a chuckle. "Great! Asshole! Hah! Danny, you should be comedian your delivery is amazing,”

“Though…you’re right, remedial IS better,” Danny said, rubbing his hand behind his neck and turning his face away. That must be Danny's nervous tick, Aizawa noted. “So…thanks, really. For helping me when I had no place to go,” 

“No, worries kid. We’re here to help after all. If we can’t recognize a kid in need, how can we call ourselves heroes?”

 

* * *

 

“Ah hello Danny, here to see your entrance exam test scores?” Principal Nezu asked upon Danny entering his office.

“Oh, uh, yeah, and a couple other things, too,” Truth be told, Danny had other concerns when he decided to visit the principal’s office – he forgot that he had asked to see his score breakdown earlier.

The mouse pulled some papers out from a stack from a drawer, sorting through them before finding the packet he was looking for. He handed the packet to Danny, putting the rest of the papers away.

“I remember one of the other proctors at my exam said I had the highest score on the entrance exam of all the freshman who took it. Was that really true? Or did I mishear him?” It wasn’t just wishful thinking, right?

“You definitely heard him right! Before you took your transfer exam, the highest exam score from the incoming freshman class was by Katsuki Bakugou, also in your class,” Nezu said. If Danny remembered correctly, that was the name of the lone blonde kid who seemed to shout at everyone yesterday. What kind of person was Bakugou anyway?

While flipping through the statistics and breakdown through his packet, Danny couldn’t help but wonder how much his new classmates learned about him before he even started class.

“Do my classmates know each other’s entrance exam score? Do they know mine?”

“They do know each other’s entrance exam scores, since Villain Points and Rescue Points were on a public tally for a Battle Royale style practical exam. While your practical exam wasn’t Battle Royale style, it did have the same opponents and obstacles as your peers. They don’t know what kind of entrance exam you took, let alone what your score is." Danny isn't sure if he should feel relieved or not that his classmates don't know his score. Is it something worth showing off? Should he tell his classmates?

"What matters is not how you got here, but what you’ll do now that you are here.” 

That reminded Danny of one of the reasons he came to visit the principal’s office.

“Speaking of which, I owe you $1,” Danny said sheepishly. “I..uh, so yesterday…” Danny started. Was it even a good idea to confess this kind of thing? He was nervous.

“I kinda took a snack from the vending machine without paying. I didn’t have money to use for the vending machine at the time, but as soon as I get some, I wanted to pay you back. Sorry, that wasn’t the best thing to do as a student here on my first day.” Though he was careful to avoid the word ‘stole’, he couldn’t look the principal in the eye.

“Oh dear, did we forgot to give you your student munch money card?”

His what.

“Huh?”

“Is that why you didn’t eat lunch with the other students yesterday? Because you thought you couldn’t pay for it?! Oh dear that is not true and this simply won’t do, let me check your records very quickly,” The mouse turned to his computer and started typing and clicking rapidly, searching for something.

“Looks like your campus meal plans have been set to the basic plan, which includes munch money, but we forgot to issue you the card.” A slight furrow appeared on the mouse’s face – Danny didn’t even think that the mouse was capable of frowning. But, it didn’t seem like the mouse was mad at Danny. He begins to relax a little.

“I’m still sorry about it, though,”

“Well, it was our fault first for not issuing you the munch money card,” the principal started. “It might have slipped through the cracks during your enrollment or orientation.” The principal rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Meal options and munch money will have to be the first thing we discuss in orientation next time. That being said, I’m glad you came clean about what you did. That was very heroic of you Danny,”

“Uh, thank you, sir.” While Danny didn’t feel the word ‘heroic’ was applicable in this scenario, he wasn’t about to argue about that.

“You’ll have your munch money card issued by end of day tomorrow.”

“Oh, nice! Thanks again!”

“I’m glad we got that sorted out, is there anything else you wanted to talk about or discuss, while you’re still here?” Danny thought for a moment on that, remembering the conversation he had at Eraserhead’s office earlier. The principal wasn’t even mad at the fact that Danny stole a $1 snack, so maybe his next thought was worth talking about.

“Today during homeroom, Aizawa-sensei mentioned something about getting an internship. Is that too early for me, considering I just started school here yesterday?”

The mouse rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“It might be, but it’s not unheard of for a student to intern under a hero without a temp hero license. I’ll have to look up a list of hero agencies who have accepted students like that in the past.” He made a quick remark in a notepad for himself on the side.

“What about the scientists? The ones you talked about the other day? The ones who…were doing something or the other experiments that you said might help me get home.” The principal’s ears perked up at that.

“Would _they_  accept interns?”

This new student sure was full of surprises.

“Maybe? But they’d most likely accept someone from the Support departments. It’s not typical of a Hero in training to intern at outside their field.”

“I thought I’d help out with the experiment or research that they were doing. I just…really want to see it, too, you know?” _I just really want to know if my way home is not a pipe dream_  went unsaid.

“Well, I can’t stop you from applying, but you might get uncomfortable questions. I know you have an obvious interest in the fruits of that research, but companies rarely accept interns that have no intention of entering that career line.”

Well, Danny had no intention of staying here for long, if he could help it. He was afraid that once he got the chance to leave, he might not want to. He might get too comfortable with his new friends and classmates, and chose them over his family. These people were nice, but they weren’t home.

The principal brought out some papers from underneath the cabinet to his right, and handed them to Danny to look.

“FemtoGenix”

Finally, Danny had a name to associate with his way home. Something he could google and research in his downtime.

“This is the Support Hero agency that is performing the research I told you about and thought would help you find a way back home,” the principal explained.” Danny listened intently, giving the principal his full attention. Now that he had papers in his hand, he could do the reading at a later time.

“Their search and rescue research currently involves teleportation and portal study.” The principal smiled when Danny gasped in surprise. “When I found out that you came here by accident from a portal, I thought this research might interest you. Unfortunately, they’ve kept their research private while in development, to prevent any villain attacks or thefts.”

“So then if I apply there as an intern-!”

“It’s not as straightforward as that either,” the principal interrupted. “Like I said earlier, you’re not likely to get accepted as an intern by them, since you’re from the Hero department, and it's not like we know which projects their interns get placed in.”

“Ouch, so close,” Danny ponders, “Then, should I just…wait for them to finish and then hope they let me use it? How long would it take them to finish that kind of research anyway?” At this, the principal had a small smirk.

“Maybe, sooner than you think. Remember how I mentioned ‘field tests’ to you earlier?” No, Danny didn’t remember, because he was too busy trying to learn modern history along with the names of his new teachers and classmates.

“Eh, kinda.”

“Well, for field tests, this Support agency collaborates with Hero agencies – Hero agencies that take interns.”

“Oh,” Danny could see what the principal meant. He thought he’d apply to internships for the heck of it and just train himself if he didn’t get any, but now he had a reason to want one. And unlike his classmates, he didn’t have a temp license.

“So it all comes down to applying as an intern to a Hero agency – without a temp license.”

“I can’t guarantee an internship for you, let alone an internship that collaborates with FemtoGenix. Another idea would be to intern or train with a teacher who works within UA - you’d train and go on missions with them, just as you would in any internship.” Danny ponders on that.

“I’ll read these when I get back to my dorm. Thank you for everything, sir.” Danny would have to research more about the internship process and pro hero business while applying. As he got up from his chair to leave the room, Danny remembered his lingering question.

“Oh yeah, how DO I get one? A temp license?”

“There’s a standardized exam held a few times a year that you’ll have to take. We just had one recently, so you’ll have to wait for the next test date to try.” The principal looked at his watch, and got out of his chair – he probably had a meeting or something important to attend to, Danny realized. 

“I can send you some more information about the temp hero license exam at a later date, I have something I need to catch,” the principal said as he walked towards the door, “It was nice talking to you, Danny.”

“Thanks for your time, Principal Nezu,” Danny said with a smile.

The two left the office together, but walked in opposite directions. Danny still had some study hall time left. He couldn’t ask the adults around him to tell him everything from A to Z right then and there, he was gonna have to figure some stuff out on his own at least, right? And he had to look into FemtoGenix too, now that he had a lead on finding his way back home.

These thoughts, and the difficulty he had in class, weighed in Danny’s mind as lunch time approached. Since dinner with his classmates was enjoyable yesterday, and the fact that the principal clarified that his cafeteria meals are covered by his school meal plan, Danny figured now was a good time to join his classmates for lunch as well. He wasn’t sure how well he’d talk or socialize with them, but maybe being ‘the new guy’ would make him interesting enough for others to initiate a conversation.

“So Danny,” that was Midoriya, standing behind Danny as the two waited in line for lunch, “How are you finding the classes at UA so far?” Everything was hard. Math and science were hard, just like they were back home, but it was the same type of hard that he was used to. History was a foreign type of hard. Not only was it a memorization type of learning – which Danny was never good at – it was a history he never grew up learning.

“To be honest, these classes are kinda hard.” Maybe he could downplay just how hard he thought everything was. “I know UA was the top school known for its pro heroes, but they work you to the bone academically, too, huh?”

“That’s UA for ya!” Midoriya replied with a beam in his eye. “I can’t imagine I’ll ever have to solve quadratic equations or anything in my head while fighting a villain, but I can’t be academically behind the rest of society either!”

“Percentages and fractions aren’t too bad, it’s when these alphabet start appearing next to numbers that I get a crisis,” Danny responded nonchalantly.

“Oh,” Midoriya was silent for a second too long. Crap, did Danny say too much? That was meant to be a joke, though Danny wasn’t lying either.

“If you’re ever having trouble, Yaoyorozu and Iida sometimes help tutor during the study hall periods. But you can ask any of us for homework help, really!” Oh thank goodness.

“Thanks, knowing that helps.” Danny replied sheepishly.

Danny wasn’t sure what he’d like from the food that the cafeteria served, so he just took a small half sized serving of the stuff that looked good. He sat down on a lunch table next to Midoriya. They were joined by Iida, and Uraraka at first. When some other students saw their new classmate, they came over to say hi and sit down if a seat was available. Their table was eventually joined by Todoroki, Asui, Kaminari, and Sero.

“There you are! Couldn’t find you at lunch yesterday!” Sero greet cheerfully. Thankfully, he didn’t ask why.

“So, what was school like where you’re from? I bet you were really popular with that cool quirk of yours!” Kaminari gleefully. “Or, those quirks of yours. Whatever. It’s just. So cool.”

Danny responded with a nervous laugh. No one randomly changed the subject – everyone was quiet, waiting for his response. Looks like he can’t get out of this one…

“I…wasn’t really.” He responded slowly.

“Huh? How come?” Kirishima asked. When did he even get here?

Danny thought to himself how best he could answer this without giving away too much. People at Amity Park didn’t know he was Phantom. But even if they did, not everyone would like him. Well, Paulina would. His parents wouldn’t.

“Well, there’s more to popularity than a cool quirk? Is what I would guess?” Danny started. Even as Phantom, he didn’t have a built figure like popular football players at school. “And…my po- my quirk” He stumbled on that word a little awkwardly, “sometimes got in the way of school. I missed school more than I should have because… life happens. And I wasn’t good at controlling my quirk.”

“I see, man. Sorry if that was a sensitive question.”

“Oh, ah, thanks for understanding.” Danny turned to start eating from his food. Others had already started eating, and Danny was hungry. He took a tentative bite of noodles in his mouth.

“I want a match.”

Danny turned towards the voice, noodles ungracefully spilling out of his mouth. It was Todoroki. He slurped – loudly – finishing the noodles hanging out of his mouth.

“Um…sure I guess?”

At this, Bakugou gets up from his seat, and shouts across the table to Todoroki. When did he even join the table?

“What the hell, Icyhot? You haven’t even had a proper match against ME since the sports festival yet!”

“What, do I need your permission before I challenge someone else to a match?”

Either Danny could let this escalate to a food fight and escape, or he could try and diffuse this fight. Misdirection or changing the topic always seemed to diffuse arguments, and maybe Danny could use it to learn more about his classmates.

“Sports festival? What was that like?” Hopefully, people wouldn’t realize he didn’t actually know what it was.

“Oh man it’s so amazing everyone with their awesome quirks! It was televised so you can rewatch the existing footage as many times as you want, too! I know I did, to take notes for my hero analysis notebook,” Midoriya blurts.

“No way! I want to watch it!” Danny hoped it would give him more insight in what type of quirks his classmates have.

“We should do like, a class marathon of it or something,” Uraraka supplied.

“Maybe after a few spars against Danny,” Tokoyami said. When did he even join the table? Tokoyami cranes his head towards Danny and continues, “Todoroki’s not the only one who wants a match against you. Your spar against Ectoplasm-sensei yesterday was amazing – not only because of your amazing quirk, but you lasted longer than most of us would have.”

“Oh,” Danny responded. He remembered clumsily firing ectoblasts and flying around for an aerial advantage.

“I call first match, after I beat Icyhot! I’m coming for you as soon as I beat him, Palette Swap!” Bakugou grunted from across the table.

“It’s Phantom,” Danny said, right before taking a bite of food. He could see his classmates’ confused faces.

“Oh you know…my hero name?” He supplied. He remembered having to pick out a ‘hero name’ when he filled out the paperwork for his transfer. “I like to call myself ‘Danny Phantom’”

“Oh that’s clever, like a pun on your name,” Uraraka responded, “My hero name is like that, too. The world can always use more clever word play and creative hero names, if we’re being honest. Sometimes you get weird hero names though, like 'I Cannot Stop Twinkling',”

“Hey, it’s to the point!” Aoyama responded from the somewhere down the table. He must’ve joined the table sometime during the conversation. Danny wouldn’t be surprised if the entire class 1-A had joined the lunch table by now.

“Besides,” Aoyama continued, “why give away your abilities with your hero name? Why not take advantage of the element of surprise when you fight a villain? Sure, it won’t last when you become a famous hero and you have the press hot on your tail, but why not have some fun before your time to shine comes? How funny is it gonna sound when they announce your hero name and it's not a noun but a whole sentence?”

“That’s an interesting way of thinking about it,” Uraraka ponders, “But there is virtue in simplicity, too. We don’t always have to overthink these things too much.”

During his classes later on that day, Danny thought back to his classmates' conversation towards the end of lunch. Was he overthinking his current situation? Was he meant to be here? Occasionally, Danny found himself having fun with his new classmates - is that bad, especially considering his friends on the other side of that dimensional portal in the ghost zone are probably worried and waiting for him to return? 

At least he knew who he could ask for homework help. Hopefully the ‘I lived abroad’ cover story can explain away his terrible geography and history knowledge base, and the ‘I missed school a lot’ can explain away his math and science skills. Now that one of his problems has a solution, he can probably concentrate on training his powers.

And there’s no ghosts here...probably? The only time Danny’s ghost sense went off was when he fought against Ectoplasm-sensei on his first day of school. It didn’t go off at all when he was staking out for a ghost portal to respawn. With more time on his hands, maybe Danny could...train more, or actually get a full night’s sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Searching for internships is a chore, isn't it?   
> Danny finally confronted and confirmed that Aizawa = Eraserhead 
> 
> This fic is not dead, just a slow writer fighting writers' block  
> Thanks for reading, kudos and comments!


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